The Light That Leads Us Home
by IamDragonFury
Summary: Humans and Monsters now live peacefully on the surface together, however, Frisk is unable to stop thinking about the one who could not save: Asriel Dreemurr, plus, the boy finds himself being haunted by and unfamiliar face. When Frisk finally finds a way to bring Asriel back, someone else is brought back with him, someone deadset on finishing what they had started eons ago.
1. Chapter 1

The Light That Leads Us Home

Chapter 1.

Going with Male Frisk and Male Chara, **because I feel like it**.

This fic takes place about three months after the perfect pacifist ending, with Frisk staying Toriel, as I have yet to see any players choose to not stay with her.

Corny title, I know, but, hear me out, as I was coming up with title ideas a bunch of song names/lyrics swam around in my head, because that's one place where a lot of my ideas come from, music I listen too. So, in the end, me being the Breaking Benjamin fan that I am, I decided to go with a title based on my favorite line from my new favorite Breaking Benjamin song "Failure" (Do not let that fool you, this fic has a happy ending). Hell, the entire "Dark Before Dawn" CD brought a lot of inspiration, along with some really great fan art I saw on DA.

Also, there will more than likely be references to lines from other songs as well, since, a lot of songs (and my love for this game/fandom) drove me to finally start this fic.

* * *

It had been a few months since Monsters had returned to the surface and despite the initial confusing and wariness, the humans were gradually warming up to their new inhabitants.

Frisk, the child who had made it all possible and the Monsters' ambassador, had so far been living a comfortable life with his new Monster family, with every day bringing a new adventure, albeit much smaller than the one that had brought them all together. Between joining in on the antics of skeleton brothers Sans and Papyrus, play sparring with Undyne, watching Anime with Alphys, and much more, life could not have been sweeter for young Frisk.

However, while all was well in the world, Frisk still felt like everything was incomplete, notably, ever since the barrier between the underground and the surface had been shattered, one thing remained on his mind. During his first adventure, he had befriended and liberated everyone and everything that he had encountered and freed them all from their unfair entrapment. That is...all except one; Frisk could not stop thinking about the one person that despite everything, he was unable to free...Asriel Dreemurr, the late son of Toriel and Asgore Dreemurr.

While he may have save Asirel's soul, Frisk still felt like he had, in some way, failed Asriel, like there was more he could have done for him. He thought about it, every night he laid down to sleep, the thoughts came flowing back.

" _Asriel..._ " Frisk thought as he lay under the covers, " _we're the same age, he shouldn't be stuck inside that soulless flower, he should be here, with us, with his parents, with me. He deserves to be happy, just like the rest of us_." It killed him to think about it, but, he could not those thoughts out of his head, sometimes it would even leave him crying in his sleep, if caught by anyone, he would lie and say that he was just having nightmares about the underground. As much as he wanted to tell the others the truth about Flowey, who was new loitering (unwillingly of course) in the garden of their new home, he just could not bring himself to do so, one, because he doubted that they would believe him and two, if they did believe the, it would probably devastate and horrify them, and given what had transpired a month ago, plus what had happened the centuries before barrier's destruction, Frisk felt that they had suffered enough.

Also, ever since he and the Monsters had returned to the surface, he could not shake the feeling that someone or something he could not see was watching him. He was not sure what it was, but, it was hard to ignore. It was all so mentally exhausting.

One day, however, something happened.

It was a beautiful day outside and, being a weekend, there was no school, so, Toriel called for a family outing at the park. Frisk, who was sitting on a swing, watched as everyone had their fun, Undyne was doing pull-ups on jungle gym. while Alphys watched in admiration, Toriel was sitting on a bench, enjoying the nice weather, with Asgore sitting next to her. Frisk snickered as Asgore inched closer to Toriel and slowly tried to reach for her hand, only to met with an acerbic glare from Toriel, then as he withdrew his hand, she smirked and turned her attention to Sans and Papyrus, were taking turns spinning each other on the little merry-go-round.

It was fun, but, once again, it only reminded him that they were short one person, Frisk looked forlornly at the empty swing beside him.

"You could be here," referring to Asriel, the boy sighed, "if only I could have...if only there was a way..." he lowered his head and closed his eyes. Just then, he heard someone sit in the swing next to him, he looked and found Sans.

"Well, that was fun, time for a break," the short skeleton said, "not that I have a choice, seeing as Papyrus decided to challenge Undyne to a pull-up contest."

Frisk glanced over at the jungle gym and saw Papyrus trying (and failing) desperately to keep up with Undyne as she did pull-ups at an unimaginable rate.

"So, what's up with you, kid?" Sans asked.

"Oh, nothing," Frisk answered, "just...sitting here...enjoying the quiet."

"Are ya sure?" the hooded skeleton inquired, "'Cause you look kinda down."

Frisk looked at him, as lazy and carefree as Sans usually was, he was definitely not stupid, and, given his relationships, it was not hard for him to pick up on negative feelings.

"Um...well..." the human child admitted hesitantly, "I was kind of thinking about...someone...someone I may never see again, not in real life at least." He stared at the ground, while Sans was completely silent. Frisk, thought that was the end of it, he expected at most to get a brief response from Sans, who would probably just walk away afterwards.

Instead, however, Sans slid off his swing and got behind Frisk.

"Hey, want me to push ya?" he offered, "If you're gonna sit on a swing, you might as well swing."

Frisk smiled softly and nodded, then gripped the swing chains tightly as Sans gave him a good push with one hand.

"So, this..."someone"...you're thinking about," Sans questioned casually, "were they a friend?"

"Oh...um..." the human boy expressed, gently pumping his legs, "actually, I didn't really know them all that well, I met him only once, while we were underground. He was scared, lonely, *sigh* lost. He needed help, probably more than anyone else I had met, but...due to circumstances...I couldn't save him."

"I see..." the short skeleton voiced, "that's a rough feeling."

"Yeah." Frisk said sadly.

Several seconds of silence followed, Sans continuing to push the swing while Frisk rock back and forth as he went.

"Was this person...someone we'd know?" Sans asked curiously, "Someone perhaps related to one of us somehow?"

Frisk was scared to answer, but, he had no choice.

"Well...yeah," he said, "he was, but, you probably wouldn't have known about him, he was about my age and he lived a _long_ time ago."

"O-Oh." the hooded skeleton responded solemnly.

Frisk was surprised when the swing came to stop, Sans having stopped pushing.

"Sans?" the boy spoke curiously looking over his shoulder at the suddenly quiet skeleton.

"Oh, sorry kid," Sans said, going back to his lax self, "got distracted there for a moment."

He then began to push the human child's swing forward again, this time with both hands.

"Is that why you've been acting strange lately," the short skeleton wondered, "you've been thinking about this person?"

"Yeah," Frisk said meekly, "I didn't say anything because...well, many reasons, but, mostly, I just didn't know how to explain it."

"I get it." Sans stated.

Despite the limitations, Frisk was glad he was finally able to tell someone about his recent troubles.

Just then, came Alphys running over to the swing set, looking frazzled.

"Oh boy, that was something," the lizard woman sighed, "Undyne asked me to keep track of her pull-ups, but, after a while, I just couldn't keep up with her."

She sat down on the open swing next to Frisk and pulled out her phone.

"I hope Toriel doesn't get mad at me for bringing this here." she voiced.

"Can't see why she would," Sans said, "she and everyone else brought their phones."

Alphys then proceeded to watch anime on her mobile device.

"So, Frisk," the hooded skeleton inquired, "I probably should've asked this earlier, but, does this person you've been talking about have a name?"

Frisk felt his palms grow sweaty as he gripped the chains on his swing.

"Promise you won't tell Toriel?" the child asked tensely, looking back at Sans.

The request got Alphys' attention, while Sans looked on curiously.

"The person I'm talking about," Frisk finally admitted, "his name is Asriel."

As soon as he said that, Sans grabbed the swing chains, forcing it to stop, which startled the human child.

The statement also seemed to catch Alphys's attention.

"Sorry, Frisk," Sans said coolly, "but, what you said just now, confuses me."

He then walked around and stood in front of the human boy.

"You said that you met Asriel," the short skeleton voiced seriously, "and given that mention of Toriel, I assume you're talking about, _the Asriel_."

"You know about him?" Frisk questioned curiously, "How?"

"How do ya think?" Sans responded, "Toriel has brought him up in conversations, which will go undetailed for now, she told me everything about him."

Frisk was not sure whether he should have been surprised or not that Sans already knew, since he and Toriel spoke so much.

"However, the biggest detail that came up was that the kid was...well... _dead_ ," Sans continued, "yet, you say you've met him."

Frisk nodded.

Alphys continued to look on curiously.

"Okay, kid," Sans requested, "why don't ya tell the story from the beginning, I _gotta_ hear this."

"Me too." Alphys stated.

With both the hooded skeleton and the lizard scientist listening closely, Frisk told the whole story form the beginning, from his first encounter with Flowey to his farewell to Asriel.

"That's what happened," Frisk sighed, "and I haven't stopped thinking about it since then."

Both listeners were speechless.

"...That...flower..." Alphys mumbled quietly, "...that...yellow flower...that was..."

"You know," Frisk informed them, "it's still around...that flower, Asriel said that when I see it I shouldn't think of it as him, but, the fact is impossible to ignore."

"Ah, so that's why you brought it up from the underground." Sans voiced.

The human boy nodded.

Alphys looked at the ground sadly, her phone now turned off.

"I wanted to do more for him," Frisk lamented, "but, I couldn't, I don't have magic or scientific talents and I still don't fully understand the true power of souls; still, I just wish I could do _something...anything..._ to help Asriel."

An empathetic Sans looked at the sullen scientist and child, who were both staring dismally at the ground. Not an enjoyable sight.

"Well...why can't you?" the short skeleton said suddenly, getting the human boy's attention. "You may not have any magic or scientific knowledge of your own," He offered, "but, remember who your friends are; we've got all the magic and science you need."

"Yeah, he's right," Alphys voiced, "but, Sans...where are you going with this?"

"We're going to do... _something_ ," Sans affirmed, "after we get home of course."

* * *

Frisk had no idea what Sans could have meant when he said that they would do "something", but, never expected what happened from there, after they got home, on Sans' instruction, Frisk uprooted a very irritated Flowey and they quickly whisked him off to Alphys' lab.

for the next several days, Frisk, Alphys, and Sans spent all the free time they got in Alphys' lab; on the first days, they ran simple tests, to figure out just what they were really dealing with. Something was there, that much was obvious, signs of a prominent, yet damaged soul lay dormant in the psychotic flower. All they had to do was make the inactive soul active, though such an act was easier said than done.

"Sans, can I ask you something," Frisk wondered, "what made you wanna do this?"

"Hmm?" sans responded, "Oh, nothing really, mainly just curiosity, just to see if it could be done...I got nothing better to do."

"But, I thought you liked doing absolutely nothing." the human boy voiced dryly.

"I didn't say I was gonna do all the work, did?" Sans retorted.

Frisk laughed as the short skeleton rubbed his head.

So, experiments began and all the while Flowey would try unsuccessfully to fight them every step of the way.

"What is wrong with you?" the yellow flower scoffed, "What makes you think any of this will work? You're better off just tearing me to pieces."

Day after day, with every attempt made, Flowey got more derisive, to the point where he almost seemed genuinely upset that the experiments were not working. Then, one day, Frisk came home from school, eager to go to the lab, though he was unable to until he finished his homework: Toriel's rules. As soon as he was free, Frisk wasted no time getting to the lab, finding Alphys and Sans already there. They both seemed to be looking closely at a surprisingly quiet Flowey.

"Hey guys," Frisk asked carefully, "how is everything?"

Before either of them could respond, Flowey turned to face Frisk and greeted him with broad smile, with a look legitimate joy on his face.

"Hi, Frisk!" the flower said, in a tone that sounded quite sincere, "I'm so glad you're home, I hope you had good day."

"Flowey?" Frisk responded puzzledly, "Are you okay?"

"I'm just...so happy to see you..." Flowey continued, seeming as if he was getting emotional, "I...missed...you...I..."

The flower squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head furiously.

"Ugh, what is happening!?" he groaned, sounding like his bitter self again, "What have you done to me?"

While Flowey fussed, Sans, who was resting his head on the table, place a bell jar over the flower.

"That happened last night, too," Alphys told Frisk, "after you went to bed, Sans and I decided to run a few last experiments before turning in ourselves, it looked like we weren't going to make any progress, until, before wrapping up the last test, Flowey experienced a break in his personality. It only lasted for about a minute, but, while it did, Flowey seemed like an entirely different person, he seemed scared and confused, asking where he was, then calling for you, but, we told him you were already in bed. He kept calling you, until he finally went back to his usual self."

"This time," Sans announced, "his break lasted for at least five minutes, you were lucky to catch the tail end of it."

Frisk was not sure what to think, it sounded positive, but, he did not want to get his hopes up just yet.

"Was it random?" the boy wondered, "Or did something make it happen?"

"We're not quite sure what triggered the breaks," Alphys voiced, "we were so surprised when they happened, we weren't really paying attention to what we were doing."

"We did refer to him as Asriel by accident a few times," Sans said, "though, we're not sure if that has any significance or not."

"Well, from now, let's refer to him _only_ as "Asriel", maybe that will help wake him." Frisk suggested.

He was ready to try anything.

* * *

Another month had passed and it was now summer, meaning the kids were out of school now, allowing Frisk to spend more time in the lab. By now, Flowey had gone from derisive and aggressive to nihilistic and depressed. However, with every new day, Flowey's breaks from "himself" to Asriel were lasting longer and longer, which made Frisk all the more determined to keep going.

They were definitely close, however, they still were not sure what was triggering the breaks.

"Why are you still doing this?" the yellow flower asked miserably, "Don't you know when to give up? Can't you see it's all for nothing?"

Sans rolled his eyes and spun himself around in one of the rotating lab chairs.

"I'm sorry," Frisk responded, "but, I'm not ready to give up just yet, Asriel."

"Stop! Stop calling me that!" Flowey yelled, "I'm not Asriel! I'm _Flowey_! Flowey! Flowey! Flowey!"

The flower continued to argue, Sans was about to put the bell jar over him again, but, before he could, Frisk picked Flowey up off the table and, despite the struggling, squeezed him in a tight hug.

"Careful, Frisk-" Alphys said tensely, but, Sans raised his hand in front of her face to silence her.

"Stop it!" Flowey cried struggling, "Put me down!"

But, Frisk ignore his discontent.

"It's okay, Asriel," Frisk said quietly, "it'll be okay."

"No, no, why don't you listen!?" Flowey continued, on the verge of tears, "I'm not Asriel, I'm Flowey, just a soulless flower! You can't help me!"

Frisk continued to squeeze the yellow flower, gently petting his golden petals.

"Ugh, Frisk," Flowey whimpered, "why, Frisk..."

Then it happened.

"Frisk," the flower suddenly lamented in a familiar tone, "I'm tired of this, I don't want to be a flower any more!"

A break.

"I want to be myself again," Flowey...no...Asriel implored, "Frisk, please...please help me!"

"Don't worry," the human boy affirmed "we'll get you back, soon if we're lucky."

"I miss my parents," Asriel sniveled, "do they know about me, like this?"

Frisk shook his head.

"Good," the flower sighed sadly, "they shouldn't, still, I'd give anything to see them again."

"You will." Frisk stated.

Frisk and "Asriel" continued to talk for several minutes, which turned into several hours; as they waited, Alphys kept track of the time, while Sans sat down in a chair, soon drifting off to sleep.

They expected Asriel to switch back to Flowey at any given moment, but, it did not happen. the break lasted well into the evening.

"Frisk," Toriel suddenly called from upstairs, "where are you? It's past your bedtime."

"Oh, is it that late already?" Frisk responded.

"Wow, I was so busy waiting to see what would happen," Alphys said, "I didn't realize how late it was getting."

Sans awoke from his nap at the lab table.

"Sorry, Asriel," Frisk told the flower, placing him back on the table, "I have to go to bed now, but, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay, goodnight, Frisk." Asriel said solemnly.

"Come on, kid," Sans yawned, "we better go before anyone comes looking for us."

Alphys stayed behind.

"I'll keep him company," she said, "someone should be here to see if anything happens."

After bidding her goodnight, Frisk was escorted upstairs by Sans, for once, he was not afraid to go to sleep. Frisk had trouble getting himself to sleep, only now, the reason was not because he was brooding, but, instead that he was excited and anxious to see the results of their experiments.

* * *

The next day, after Frisk woke up and finished eating breakfast, he made his way to the lab, where Sans and Alphys were already waiting.

"There he is." Sans stated.

"Good morning, Frisk." Alphys said, strangely in high spirits.

"Frisk, you're finally up!" the flower said, also sounding happy.

It was clear that it was Asriel speaking and not Flowey, which made Frisk run up to the table.

"How did it go?" the human boy asked, "When did he change this time?"

"Well, the thing is," Alphys informed him, "he actually never switched back from yesterday."

"Really?" Frisk responded, cautiously optimistic, "The break lasted all night?"

The yellow flower wiggled back and forth with a smile on his face.

"According to Alphys," Sans said, "the little guy moped around until he fell asleep around one in the morning."

"I'm glad I managed to stay awake that long," the lizard scientist sighed, "I didn't think I was gonna make it, but, I did it."

"It was hard, Frisk," Asriel said, "there were a couple times where it felt like I was changing back, but, I wouldn't do it, I forced myself to think about you, mom and dad, and everyone else, and before I knew it, it was morning and I was still here."

Frisk picked the flower up.

"Good job." he said happily.

"I don't know if I should be saying it yet, Frisk," Asriel expressed, "but, I feel like it's almost over, like I won't be this way much longer, I feel it deep inside."

The human child hugged the flower tightly and Alphys hugged them both, then Sans pat Frisk on the head.

Just then, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Frisk?" it was Toriel, "Sans? Where is everyone?"

"It's Mom." Asriel gasped quietly.

"We can't let her see." Frisk stated tensely.

"Here," Sans said, taking the flower and putting it behind his back, "I got this."

Toriel finally made it down the stairs and found the three of them in the lab.

"Oh, there you are," she voiced, "you three have been spending an awful lot of time down here, what have you been doing?"

Nobody said anything.

"It's nothing, really," Sans responded, bring his hands back to his front, revealing that he was not holding the flower anymore, "Frisk just wanted to get some true lab experi- **m** ence." (I am not a pun expert!)

After taking a moment to enjoy the pun Toriel went back on track.

"I see, but, what could you be doing that would have held up down here for so many days?" she asked curiously.

Alphys was too distracted by Sans' empty hands to respond.

"I...we can't tell you..." Frisk said solemnly, "it's...it's a surprise."

Toriel looked at Sans and Alphys, who nodded in agreement.

"I promise, if it works, you...and Asgore...will be very happy," Frisk added, "but, it's too early yet to tell you about it."

The goat woman was still curious, but, because she did not expect them to be doing anything they should not be, she did not question any further.

"Well, all right then," she said, "but, whatever you're doing, please be careful, all of you."

With that, she went back upstairs, much to the others' relief.

"Sans," Alphys questioned, "where's the flower?"

"Right here." he replied.

The short skeleton winked as he reached behind his back and pulled out the flower.

"Where'd I go just now?" Asriel wondered.

* * *

As the day ended and Asriel remained conscious in the flower once more, Frisk once again went to sleep peacefully, however, as he slept, he was once again met with a weird feeling. That feeling of being watched once more and though he did not really feel as if he were in danger, it still felt unnerving.

He then had a very strange dream.

 **(Dream)**

Frisk was still laying in bed, but, now he was surrounded by gray nothingness, it was strange and he was confused.

Then through the grayness, a very tall, slender figure loomed over him, it's face barely visible. Frisk was able to make out a round head and empty eye sockets as the being stared at him and it was wearing a long black coat.

Because he had been around Monsters for so long now, Frisk was not afraid of his mysterious visitor, more so he was curious.

"Um...hello...Sir." Frisk said warily, somehow sensing that the visitor was male.

He did not get a verbal response, but, he noticed that there was serious look on the being's face; then, the visitor raised a skeletal hand and proceeded to frantically move its fingers in different positions, repeating some.

Frisk guessed that this was the being's way of communicating, unfortunately Frisk did not understand hand signs all that well, he remembered hearing about it somewhere before, but, he was not too familiar with it at the moment.

"I'm sorry..." Frisk voiced, "I don't understand."

The troubled figure was now signing desperately with both hands, making it even hard for Frisk to figure out what it was trying to say. Frisk tried to think, there were only two letters that he recognized off the bat, as the were easy, and that was "A" and "N". Those were the only two letters in the full string of letters being signed that Frisk could identify and given that the being would start by pointing at him, he guessed that it was trying to say "you".

"You A\\\ \\\ \AN\\\\\ " Frisk mused quietly, trying to piece together a sensible answer.

He could see that the visitor was becoming disparaged, realizing that it could not be understood, which made Frisk feel bad.

"I'm sorry, Sir," the human boy expressed, "I don't know all my hand signs, is there any other way you could help me understand what you are trying to say?"

There was long period of silent stillness before the visitor nodded, it then raised its white, bony hand and placed it on the human boy's head.

Suddenly, everything changed, Frisk now found himself standing on a tall hill, twilight was shining on the horizon, the wind was eerily calm as it raked his semi-long brown hair. As he turned around to get a full view of his surroundings, Frisk discovered that he was not alone on the hill as he spotted another young human boy standing at least ten yards away. The boy appeared to be about the exact same height as Frisk and also had brown, medium length hair, just like himself. The mysterious boy, like Frisk, was wearing a striped shirt, only it was green and yellow as opposed to Frisk's purple and blue one.

The boy appeared to be fiddling with something in his hands and as Frisk looked closer, he saw that the young stranger was mindlessly tearing the petals off of a bundle of yellow flowers, bearing quite the resemblance to "Flowey", that he was holding in his hands.

Then, the mystery child stopped and looked up at Frisk, revealing his eyes to be the most piercing shade of red, and smiled in a manner that looked anything but human.

"I'm co-ming, Frisk." the boy snickered darkly.

Before Frisk could react, the vision faded, back to what it originally was, that of the tall, slender figure standing in front of him.

"What was..." the human boy mumbled puzzledly.

He looked up at his mystery visitor.

"Are you trying to warn me?" he wondered, "Am I or someone I care about in danger?"

The being nodded.

"Frisk!" he suddenly heard.

 **(End Dream)**

Frisk was jolted awake by somebody shaking him, it was Alphys.

"Frisk, come on, get up," she said quietly in an urgent tone, "you gotta come to the lab!"

"What is it?" the boy responded, still half asleep, "Did something happen?"

"Oh, you could say that." Alphys said, laughing awkwardly.

Frisk tried to keep up as Alphys dragged him along, both trying to be quiet to keep from waking anyone else up. Frisk managed to get a glimpse of the clock and saw that it was 4:50 a.m., the sight made him rub his eyes with his free hand again.

"I'll assure you now, though you may not believe me," the lizard scientist said, as they walked down the stairway to the lab, "that none of this right now is a dream, swearsies."

When they finally entered, Alphys excitedly directed Frisk's attention to the lab table and what he saw made him rub his eyes again, extra hard, to make sure that what he was seeing was real.

On the table was Asriel...in his true form, the original Monster form he was born in. The young goat boy was sleeping soundly on the table top, covered by Sans' jacket.

"Asriel!?" Frisk uttered quietly, "He's...but, when?"

"Just a minute ago." Alphys affirmed.

"Turned back as he slept," Sans added, "the kid didn't even flinch."

Frisk was shocked, he had not expected Asriel to return to physical form so soon.

"Should we wake him and alert him to his change?" Alphys wondered.

Frisk looked at Asriel's peaceful, sleeping face.

"No, don't," he said, "we don't know if this will last, but, if it does, I want him to be surprised."

They stood around the table quietly, though, as they did, Frisk felt an odd presence, similar to the one he had felt in his dream. He was not sure why, but, he felt as if they were being watched by something sinister.

"Hey," the human boy asked, gripping the side of the lab table, "did anything else happen at the time Asriel changed back? Something unsettling maybe?"

"Not that I recall." Alphys said.

"Really, you didn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary?" Frisk pressed.

"I don't remember," Sans responded, "should we have?"

Frisk looked around the lab, they appeared to be the only ones present, as far as he could tell.

"I guess not," he said, "just checking."

Even so, the human boy felt compelled to stay close to lab table, close to Asriel.

"Do I...have to go back to bed?" Frisk voiced, "'Cause I really wanna be here when Asriel wakes up."

"Well...I suppose it's close enough to morning," Alphys said, "and you don't have to worry about school right now."

"We'll all stay until then," Sans said, "and if Toriel comes looking for us, she'll be surprised too."

Frisk immediately sat down in one of the rotating lab chairs and pulled up to the lab table, along with his two Monster friends. He shifted his gaze between the clock, which now read 5:00 a.m., eagerly waiting for the moment the goat boy would wake up. At the same time, Frisk still could not shake the feeling of another, unseen, being present in the room with them, as much as he wanted to ignore the feeling. It was impossible.

" _Frisk_." he suddenly heard.

"What?" the boy responded aloud.

Sans and Alphys looked at him curiously.

"Did somebody say me name?" Frisk wondered.

"I-I didn't hear anything." Alphys said, as Sans shook his head.

"Oh," Frisk replied warily, looking around once more, "never mind."

* * *

Oi, first chapter is finally done and admittedly kind of awkward because this is my first time doing a fic with these characters (though do not expect me to keep them strictly in character).

I am not going for gold here, this fic just needs to exist in case I do any other Undertale fics and I will explain that at the end of the fic.


	2. Chapter 2

The Light That Leads Us Home

Chapter 2.

And now it is time for stuff to get real.

* * *

7:30 a.m. rolled around and Asriel finally opened his eyes, he looked around and saw Sans, Alphys, and Frisk sitting around the lab table, with Frisk sleeping in a chair right across from where he was facing.

"Frisk?" Asriel yawned.

On cue, the human boy opened his eyes.

"Ah, you're awake," Frisk voiced, "he's awake."

Then Alphys and Sans woke up.

"Good morning, Asriel." Frisk said, a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Hmm...good morning." the goat boy sighed.

He rubbed his eyes his focus his vision, but paused, when he realized what was happening; Asriel held his hands in front of his face, looking at them with great confusion and continued to do so as he sat up on the table. He tentatively ran his hands up and down the sides of his head, then down the front of his body, wondering if what he seeing and feeling was real.

Nobody said anything, the silence let it all sink in.

Asriel looked at Frisk with a look of utter disbelief.

"I told you we'd get you back." the human boy stated.

"F-Frisk..." Asriel squeaked quietly on the verge of joyful tears.

He slowly reached his hand out to Frisk, who went to reach back.

Suddenly, the lights in the lab went out, shrouding the lab in darkness, and sudden chill filled the air.

Then from the darkness a figure materialized on the lab table next to Asriel, having the appearance of young, human boy about that same age and height as Frisk. It was then Frisk realized that he had scene this person before, it was same boy from his dream earlier that morning.

"Why...hello everyone," the mysterious boy said, "it's been a while."

"Chara." Asriel, Frisk, and, to the latter's surprise, Sans said in unison.

 **(Note: The first chapter was originally going to end here, but, I grew tired of dragging out and just wanted to finally get it uploaded, so, I moved to the star of this chapter)**

"What's happening!?" Alphys uttered.

"So I haven't been forgotten?" Chara voiced, "That's good to know, I was starting to wonder seeing as I've already been replaced...right Asriel?"

"I...I don't know what you mean." the goat boy responded tensely, slowly scooting backwards.

"If my memory serves me right, the last time you mentioned me, your explanation was...well...quite negative," the red-eyed boy responded, "I'll attest to the part about me not being a good person, believe me, I can't fake that, but, to say that you prefer this kid that you were unfamiliar with to me, to say that you wished he was the friend you had always had. I can't say that I like that."

"O-Oh, that...but...how did you..." Asriel stammered.

"I heard and saw everything, because I was there, I've _always_ been there," Chara affirmed, "human souls don't disappear after death and apparently turning into a flower wasn't enough to separate up either, for as long as you have been stuck in your floral prison, so was I, you couldn't see, hear, or feel me, but I was there."

Stunned silence filled the room.

"So...that soul we detected before we started experimenting," Alphys mused, "that was..."

"That's right, me," Chara explained, "I _was_ originally just counting on a reset, planning to take over Frisk's body as soon as he fell to the underground again and get things done my way, sadly that didn't happen. However, when Frisk decided to bring Flowey to the surface with him and the rest of the Monsters, I took the chance to jump on board."

Asriel tried to move back more, but, for some reason he was unable to move.

"Of course, I had no power because the flower had no soul," Chara continued, "but, thanks to our previous endeavor, I've returned with more power than I could've hoped for, and now that I'm back, I intend to pick up where I left off. The end of humanity...that is, as soon as I collect enough _souls_..."

Sans then whispered something to Alphys, who quickly fled the lab, going back up the stairway.

"And since it was _your_ fault my first plan failed," Chara asserted, pointing at Asriel, "you're first!"

Chara then morphed into a shadowy form, his red eyes being the only part of him to stay the same.

Asriel tried to get off the table, but, found himself being pulled toward the menacing, Shadow Chara.

"No, please," Asriel cried, "not again; Frisk, help! I don't wanna go again!"

Frisk tried to grab Asriel's hand, but, was repelled by a burning sensation.

"Ah, back up." Sans advised, grabbing Frisk by the shoulders.

"Do you think that we can play another game?" Chara quipped, "Maybe I can win this time!"

Asriel screamed as Chara pulled him into his spectral body, which immediately increased in size.

"No!" Frisk yelled, "Let him go!"

"You wanna be with him so badly," Chara hissed, his voice now sounding more distorted, "then **come join him!** "

With that, Sans pulled Frisk again, but, this time teleported them outside the house, where everyone else was.

"Frisk, Sans," Toriel voiced, "there you are, what's going on? Alphys said something about a mishap in the lab."

"Well...that's putting it lightly..." Sans responded.

"Toriel, that "surprise" we were working on..." Frisk tried to explain, "see, we were actually experimenting on Flowey..."

"Flowey? That talking yellow flower you put in the garden?" Toriel inquired, "Why were you experimenting on him?"

"Because, we were trying to..." Frisk started.

Then, the door to the house flew off of its hinges and in the doorway stood the demonic Chara.

"What the hell is that!?" Undyne questioned as the shadowy being made its way toward them.

The avant-garde family huddled close together.

"Oh, how nice," Chara quipped, "the gang's all here, this will make things so much easier."

"That voice." Toriel gasped warily.

"Hey, Toriel," Chara voiced snidely, "wanna see your son? Come join us, it'll be fun."

"Leave her alone!" Sans asserted.

Chara then launched his shadowy limbs toward Toriel, but, at the last second, Asgore moved protectively in front of his ex-wife, allowing himself to be absorbed instead.

"Asgore, no!" Toriel cried.

Once again, Chara's monstrous body increased in size.

"What's happening!?" Papyrus uttered anxiously.

"There's no time to explain," Alphys attested, "we have to get out of here before he takes us all!"

"Sans, if you could, please?" Papyrus called.

Everyone got close together, allowing Sans to teleport them out of there.

"You can't run forever," Chara proclaimed, "I'll collect every soul that crosses my path and eventually...I'll find all of you!"

* * *

Sans had teleported the remaining group to the edge of the city.

"We need to come up with a plan quickly." Alphys said tensely.

"Shouldn't we warn everyone about, Chara?" Frisk asked.

"Wait...my ears were right?" Toriel inquired, "That thing is really Chara?"

Frisk nodded.

"Can we save the explanations for later?" Undyne voiced, "The people are in danger!"

The group split up equally, Undyne going with Alphys and Papyrus and Frisk staying with Toriel and Sans, trying to spread the word about Chara, from the city to the suburbs, hoping to save as many people as they could.

Even though the masses had many questions, once Chara showed up at the edge of the city, nobody wasted any time with questions. As the demonic Chara proceeded to absorb any unsuspecting monster he could, Frisk and co. went about evacuating all those lucky enough to get away as far away as they could, via Sans powers.

"Incredible, Sans," Papyrus said, "I've never seen you willingly work so hard at anything."

"Bro," Sans replied dryly, "not now."

He leaned tiredly against a street light.

"Is that everyone?" Toriel wondered.

"Looks like it." Undyne said.

"Thank God." Sans sighed.

"Now, how do we deal with Chara?" Frisk wondered.

"Normally, I wouldn't stray away from a challenge," Undyne voiced, "but, even if we were able to put up a fight, we'd risk hurting those innocent souls trapped inside of him, so, that's out of the question."

"We could try looking back through my soul research," Alphys said, "but, Chara would probably be expecting that."

Everyone thought about it quietly.

"So...the real issue is getting those souls out of him." Frisk mused.

"You know what," Undyne suggested, "I say we take a chance on going to the lab, even if Chara does come for us, we have to try _something_."

"She's right," Papyrus said, "we need to explore our options."

* * *

With little time to argue, Frisk and co. returned to the house and went to Alphys lab, there, the lizard scientist pulled out all of the files she could find regarding her research of soul power.

"Okay, where do we start?" Alphys mumbled as she shuffled through the many papers in front of her.

Frisk looked at the papers Alphys cast aside to see if there was anything she might have missed.

"Oh, look here." Alphys announced.

Everyone gathered around the lab table as Alphys read the document aloud:

"Human souls are strong enough to persist after death and when they do, they become supernatural entities (Spirits, Demons, etc.). In this event, the reshaped souls take on new abilities that Human beings would be denied in life. Souls of troubled humans can become restless spirits who display aggressive behavior and cause physical disturbances are called "poltergeists". However, spirits born of impure souls are said to take on demonic abilities upon the Human's death, making them unpredictable, dangerous forces of supernatural nature."

"Well, I think it's safe to say Chara is most definitely a demon." Sans stated, with empty eye sockets.

"Okay, so, how do you stop a demon?" Undyne wondered.

Alphys looked back in her file cabinets and pulled out what looked like a book that had been through hell, the title was almost unreadable and the sides of the pages were brown as tree bark.

"Luckily in one of my many trips to the underground landfill I happened upon this book," the scientist affirmed, "it centers on human religion and mythology."

She very carefully opened the book, which looked like it could fall apart at any moment, and gingerly flipped through the pages, until she found the one that had the information she needed.

"Here we are," Alphys noted, "Demons, their Origins, Variations, and Magical properties."

"Does it say anything about weaknesses?" Papyrus wondered.

Alphys quickly skimmed over the page, which was not easy as the words on the aged paper were so faded, she had look them over with a magnifying glass.

"Hmm, possession," she mumbled as she read, "negativity..." then she found something, "Oh!" she said aloud, "Here's something: Since demonic spirits come from impure souls, the best way to fight a demon is to wear it down by using whatever affected it as a human against it."

There was a brief silence as a confused Alphys looked closer at the page.

"That's it?" Undyne responded.

"That's...all that's written about fighting them." the lizard scientist said.

"But, that's so...vague," Frisk voiced, "what does that mean "use what affected is as a human"?"

"Perhaps...it means that we have to remind it of its old self?" Papyrus offered.

Frisk thought about it himself.

"Um...I don't know if that'll work." he said awkwardly.

"Well, it obviously has something to do with the past right?" Undyne voiced, "That must mean we have to get under that thing's skin...or whatever it's covered in."

"If that's the case," Toriel offered, "then let me try, after all, I cared for that child, so I know him better than anyone here."

"Uh...you sure about that." Sans responded flatly.

Just then, the entire house was rocked by what sounded like a powerful clap of thunder, knocking everyone off of their feet.

"Knock KNOCK!" Chara called from outside, his voice now almost unrecognizable.

"He found us!" Frisk said tensely.

"What do we do?" Papyrus voiced, "We're not even prepared!"

Toriel was the first one to stand up.

"Everyone, stay here," she said, "I'm going to see if I can get through to him."

"Actually," Sans responded, grabbing her sleeve, "I would advise against that, trust me, words won't be enough."

"You don't know that." Toriel replied solemnly.

"He's right," Frisk avowed, tugging on her other sleeve, "Chara won't let himself be talked down, if you go out there he'll swallow you up like all the others."

It was then the windows began to break and Chara tried to force his shadowy limbs through the glass.

"They might have a point." Undyne stated.

"Maybe he will absorb me on sight," Toriel expressed, "or maybe he'll hear me out, I don't know, but, even if he doesn't listen to a word I say, I can only hope that my appearance will allow the rest of you to get away safely. Really that's all I want."

"R-Really," Frisk voiced, "you don't have to do that."

Now the others were concerned as well.

Toriel raised her hands up to silence everyone.

"No more arguing," she attested, "everything I do is for your own good, that goes for all of you, no matter what happens, I will always protect those closest to me, I made that decision long ago."

As soon as she said that, Frisk threw his small arms around her and hugged her tightly, followed by Sans, Papyrus, Alphys, and finally, though she hesitated for a moment, Undyne. Toriel squeezed the lot of them lovingly before letting them go.

"Now please," she implored, placing one hand on Sans' skull and the other on Undyne's shoulder, "stay together and get somewhere safe, no matter what happens, don't look back."

"Heh...don't worry about it," Sans said, trying to sound cool, "whatever happens, we're gonna save everyone, s-so even if this doesn't work, we'll figure something out."

Toriel sent them off once more and after they had finally teleported away, the goat woman quickly made her way outside.

"Chara!" she called out.

At the sound of her voice, the now massive, demonic Chara stopped trying to pull the house apart and turned to look at her.

Toriel stood completely still as the shadowy remnant of what she once loved shaped himself back to his normal form, albeit his powerful aura remained as he stayed floating in the air.

"Oh, Toriel," Chara sneered, "nice to see you decided to join me, are the others still hiding?"

"They've gone," Toriel replied, "it's only us here, Chara."

"Really?" the demonic child retorted, "And what do you expect to do? _Reason_ with me? You think your words are enough to deter me?"

Toriel inhaled deeply and sighed.

"Chara," she appealed, "I don't know why you're doing this or what drove you to such state in the beginning, but, please hear me out."

Chara responded to her words by rolling his eyes.

"Please, stop doing this, release those innocent souls," Toriel beseeched, "if you really are the child I knew and loved, you would listen to me, please don't hurt anyone, my child."

"Toriel, Toriel, Toriel," Chara sighed aloofly, "after all these years, I still can't believe...just how _blind_ you really are, the Human child you knew and loved...well...never existed, honestly, if you could've seen the real me, all of this, including what happened all those years ago, could have been avoided. So, let's get one thing straight, I am _not_ your child, _your_ child is **_dead_** _!_ "

Toriel said nothing.

"I will take every Monster soul I can find," Chara declared, "and I will _slaughter_ any Human who crosses my path, I won't stop until I finally finish what I set out to do centuries ago!"

By this point, Toriel was no longer listening, she was lost in her own thoughts, trying to process what was happening. Was this really the Human child she had taken in centuries ago? The child that she cared for as her second son? The child she had cried over as she laid him to rest when he first died? She did not want to believe it, but, as he stood in front of her now, his gaze burning with hatred, his words stinging like venom, it hammered in the harsh reality harder than she could bear it.

"You're sad, because you worry your self to death over your family;" Chara scoffed, "well, if you love them so much, then maybe it's time you join them!"

As she felt Chara's shadow limbs engulf her, Toriel made no attempt to run or fight, she did not even flinch, she merely stood there and accepted it with look of sheer defeat on her face.

* * *

Meanwhile, Frisk and those who remained with him were teleported to the outskirts of the deserted city, which now looked like a landfill, as the streets were littered with an abundant mess of garbage and rubble. Many streetlights had been torn clean from their foundation and the elevated highways had been broken down.

"Well, Chara certainly wasted no time going to town on this place." Frisk sighed.

The group began to walk down the street, which was rather hazardous as the sun was now hanging low in the sky and there were very few working streetlights left untouched.

"Is anyone else cold?" Alphys voiced, shuddering slightly.

"It does sound like the wind is picking up." Papyrus noted.

"Probably Chara's doing." Frisk stated.

Sans then slipped his coat off and promptly placed it on Frisk.

"Here, kiddo," he said, "you'll need it more than I do."

"Thanks, Sans." the human boy replied thankfully.

They kept walking and for the longest time nobody said anything, nobody really knew what to say, they were all just too focused on the crisis at hand to speak.

Frisk was probably thinking about it harder than anyone else, his thoughts mostly concerning the well being of the lost souls trapped within Chara. The more he thought about, the more he thought about his first adventure with his Monster friends, more specifically the moment he had to save them from the corrupted Asriel. As harrowing as the experience was, frisk could not help but look back on it fondly, it made him realize how powerful he really was.

It was then that Frisk was hit with an idea, he was not sure if it would be as successfully as it was before, but, in his mind, it was worth a shot.

"Hey, guys," he affirmed, "I...I think I have an idea."

* * *

Bleh, that could have gone better, but, I cannot complain too much, I got it done on New Years Eve.

I would have made it longer, but, there are so many other moments I want to save for later and if I try to fit them all into one chapter, it might start to get more rushed than it already is. Then again, I do not plan on dragging this out to much, this fic just needs to serve its purpose and then I can end it.

Anyway, more stuff to come eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

The Light That Leads Us Home

Chapter 3.

Planning time, for Frisk and co.

* * *

As they walked out of the city, Frisk explained his idea to his companion, by the time the explanation had ended, the moon had taken the sun's place in the sky.

"S-So, Frisk," Alphys questioned, "do you really think you can save those souls from Chara the way you saved them, I-including us, from Flowey?"

"I'm not certain," Frisk admitted, "but, it was the first, and only, possibility that came to mind."

"I don't know," Undyne said, "it sounds pretty risky...you getting right up in that thing's face."

"Come on now," Papyrus voiced, "let's not be so quick to doubt, Undyne, we need to believe in Frisk, after all, we've already seen just how strong he is."

"It's not that I doubt Frisk's strength, I'd never," Undyne responded, "but, that Chara has absorbed countless souls in the span of one day, and he probably won't stop until he's taken them all."

"But, don't forget, Humans can't absorb other Human souls." Alphys affirmed.

"However," Sans said matter-of-factly, "that thing is sucking up _Monsters_ because it's out for _Human_ blood, if he sees Frisk, he'll...show no mercy."

Everyone went silent.

Frisk thought hard, he needed some way to get close enough to Chara without leaving himself vulnerable to attack. But, in terms of what he currently had at his disposable was quite limited, going back to the house would not help and he and his remaining friends, even combined, did not have nearly enough power to directly challenge the demonic Chara.

"Oh, if only we could have the same determination as Frisk," Papyrus expressed, "then we would all stand a chance against that Chara."

"Unfortunately," Alphys sighed, "us Monsters aren't capable of producing such a power."

Frisk had nearly forgotten that determination, the power, was something specific only to Humans.

"Do you think Chara has the same determination as me?" he wondered.

"After _everything_ we've seen..." Sans voiced, "I think it's safe to say that Chara is _beyond_ determine."

"So...do you think I'd be any match for him?" Frisk replied, "Do you think I stand any chance at all?"

Silence all around.

"Well, I...wouldn't try it," Sans said, "but, then again, you're not me, you wouldn't try something if you didn't think you could do it."

"He's...right," Papyrus affirmed, "you have a better chance than anyone, just as always, I believe in you."

"We _all_ believe in you, Frisk." Alphys attested.

Hearing his beloved friends encouraging words fueled Frisk's determination, making him feel less afraid.

"Yeah...you know what," the human boy said, "I believe in me too, let's keep moving."

"But, where should we go now?" Alphys wondered, "The city is all but destroyed, and if Chara is looking for us, then joining up with the evacuees definitely isn't an option."

"Then, let's go somewhere more open," Frisk suggested, "somewhere nobody would be hiding, somewhere nobody _could_ hide."

He then turned and pointed to a long, open stretch of land, leading up to a large hill.

Everyone thought about it.

"Let's go for it." Undyne said readily.

* * *

Meanwhile, Chara had found a surburban area where a huge number of human beings had been hiding and he wasted no time going to work, attacking any of them he could manage to catch.

"Ha, ha," the hellish child snickered, "I see you."

He scooped three adults at once, whipped them up as far as he could reach, and then slammed them down onto the pavement with full force, obliterating their bodies on impact.

"Hmm..." Chara mused, licking the gore from his beastly fingers, "good, but...I can do better."

He then summoned power from the lost souls trapped within him and set fire to the area, forcing the frightened Humans to choose between making a break for safety or resigning themselves to burn.

Chara laughed as he watched Humans, who had gotten caught in the flames, run frantically and try to put themselves out.

"Imbeciles," the mutated child said scornfully, "that's _magic_ fire, it won't go away that easily!"

Chara continued on his merry way, running down any Human unlucky enough to cross his path, either crushing them beneath his now massive feet or mangling them with his long arms and newly formed talons.

"The taste of Human blood at long last," the young fiend professed, ripping a middle-aged woman clean apart high above his head, "it fills me with determination!"

At the same time, inside of him, the lost souls were in their own little worlds, most of them being unaware that they were not alone. To them, their current surroundings was nothing more than a black, suffocating void.

Asriel, being the first soul to be absorbed, was at the bottom of the void, horrified and despairing, he wished so much that he could do something, but, this time, he did not have the power to hold Chara back. However, this time, it was worse, just when it seemed he had gotten a second chance at life, just when he had finally felt the light again for the first time, he was once again sucked back into the darkness.

" _Why did this have to happen again_?" the goat boy thought miserably, " _After Frisk went through so much trouble to bring me back?_ "

He rubbed his eyes as tears rolled mercilessly down his face.

" _It wasn't meant to be_ ," his thoughts continued, " _something too good to be true just isn't possible._ "

Asriel looked up into the void, he could sense that others were around them, but, he could not see them. He looked around, wishing that he could see anything other than just blackness.

Just then, as he turned around and around, Asriel saw an image appear through the shadowy haze, it was faint, but, unmistakable.

"Ah...Momma," he mumbled, "Momma...can you see me? I can see you."

As expected he did not get a response.

"Mom...I wish I could reach you," he lamented, "but, I guess just being able to see you will have to do."

At the same time, Toriel was also lost in thought; she was brooding over the facts that had come to light, the truth of what had happened so many years ago. Chara had made sure that she knew everything, he wanted her to be aware of what he really was, what she had never seen centuries ago.

As Toriel stared blankly into the dark void around her, she saw something flicker just beyond the haze; it appeared only for a moment, a vision of the past, she swore that she had just seen her long deceased son, Asriel, reaching out from the darkness. It was only a moment, but, that was all it took to affect her.

"I-I'm seeing things now," she muttered tensely, "is this it? Am I...dying? I must be, why else...would I see...such a thing."

* * *

I think I better hold off on making chapters going past 1000 to 2000 words, at least until the last one, depending on what happens, otherwise this fic may end up going downhill faster than it already is. But, hopefully I can keep it at a decent quality.


	4. Chapter 4

The Light That Leads Us Home

Chapter 4.

Okay, let's see where we can go with this.

* * *

After decided where to go next, Frisk and co. tried to head for their decided destination, once again, by Sans' teleportation powers. However, this time, it turned out differently, as they did not make it even half way to where they wanted to go.

"What the-Sans!" Papyrus voiced, "We're nowhere near the hill, what happened?"

"Ugh...sorry 'bout that," the short skeleton sighed, dropping to his knees, "it's been a while since I've used my power this much in one day...it wears ya down after a while."

It was clear that teleportation, for the time being, was out.

"P-Perhaps we should take a break," Alphys suggested, "I mean, it is awful late and Frisk is probably tired too."

"No, I'm not," Frisk responded, only to be refuted by a deep yawn, "I'm good to go." He reluctantly rubbed his tired eyes.

* * *

At the same time, Chara was continuing his rampage through populated areas, looking for any Humans he could catch to slaughter. However, as he went along, he noticed that something did not feel quite right.

He was starting to feel...bored, even though he did not want to stop, it was starting to feel less pleasurable, for some reason.

"I was having so much fun," Chara mused, "so why does this feel so dull now?"

He thought about it as he ground the gorey remains of a severed human head beneath his foot.

"I know what it is," the demon child said to himself, "now that I have all these souls, all this power, it's become...way too easy, yes, that's it, I wanna mix it up, I don't just wanna massacre the Humans, I want them to _suffer_ , to really _writhe_ in sheer agony."

Chara closed his eyes, trying to think as the horrified cries of Humans filled the air and flames surrounded the area. A power that would make anyone suffer...he got an idea.

"Yes." he hissed quietly, blissfully gazing up at the moon, which was now glowing a deep orange.

* * *

With no other options available at the moment, Frisk and co. just sat down on the ground, right where they were standing, and eventually they all fell asleep. However, as exhausted as he was, Sans could not bring himself to drift completely off to sleep, as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he was worried, he knew that Chara would show up at any moment and if he did, they would be sitting ducks in their current positions.

Sans looked down at Frisk, who was wedged cozily between him and Papyrus, lying in his arm and using his shoulder as a pillow; he just could not stop thinking about what horrible things Chara would possibly do to the innocent human boy. But, he also thought that, whatever Chara _did_ plan on doing to the boy, he would not let it happen, one way or another, he would not let the demon child harm Frisk.

Sans' eye then lit up as he heard a noise nearby, putting him on edge.

Feeling obligated to investigate, the short skeleton slowly slid himself free of Frisk's hold and stood up, thankfully, the movement did not wake the human boy, who snuggled further into his friend's jacket.

Sans quietly crept off in the direction he had heard the noise, there was nothing on the ground that would have made his footsteps audible, but, he still could not take any chances. Before he knew it, he was nearly fifty yards away from the group, but, he did not see anything of interest.

"Hi, Sans." he suddenly heard.

With a deep sigh, Sans slowly turned around and found Chara standing behind him; the demonic boy was at his normal height, though, he still had an immense, hellish aura surrounding his body.

"Just the skeleton I wanted to see." Chara stated.

Instead of responding verbally, Sans instinctively tried summoning a Gaster Blaster, forgetting how tired he had been, only to fail and be overcome with vertigo.

Chara rolled his eyes as the short skeleton slumped to the ground.

"You done?" the hellish boy asked dryly, getting only a dirty look in response.

The little demon then began to circle Sans, who could only watch and listen.

"Now that I have your attention," Chara said, "I need to talk to you about something."

Sans looked up at the sky, noticing the moon was glowing with an unnatural red color.

"You see, things have gotten kinda stale as of late," Chara voiced, "make no mistake, I'm not about to stop doing what I've already started, but, I think I can do better. Which had me thinking, I have lots of power now, from so many souls, that allow me to do amazing things, however, I remembered that there was one soul, still out of my reach, that I believe could make this whole thing all the more interesting and that's...well...yours."

Sans looked at the evil child with a dumbfounded look.

"Really," he questioned, "and why would I let you have my soul? Make you even more dangerous than you are now?"

"Trust me," Chara replied, "once you hear my proposal, I don't think you're gonna be able to turn me down."

He stopped.

"I have collected _many_ souls, Sans," the boy expressed, "and there are still more out there to collect, including your...ugh...family...however, if I had your soul, I might not need them."

"What's your point?" Sans huffed.

"My point is, with your power, I'll probably have all that I need," Chara said, "so...if you let me have your soul, I'll leave the remaining Monsters, including your loved ones, alone...and I guess I'll let Frisk live."

Sans looked on skeptically.

"Okay, I don't wanna waste any more time than I already have right now," the demonic child asserted, "so **let's just get to the point** , give me your soul..." he whispered as he leaned in close to the short skeleton, "...unless...you want...a **_reset_**."

The word "reset" made Sans' eye instantly light up.

"That's right, Sir," Chara affirmed, "that possibility is still very much alive."

Now the skeleton's eyes were completely black.

"Now, you're probably wondering, if I have that power, why didn't I use it in the first place?" Chara continued, "Well, I admit, I considered it, however, I decided that I wanted to see just how powerful I could become in this new world and I must say, I have yet to be disappointed. So, yeah, the reset thing was pushed to plan B, should anything go wrong here, which I don't count on. However, I'm not above changing tactics, even by this point."

"And what makes you think anything will turn out differently for you if you do decide to reset?" Sans question dully.

"What makes you think it won't?" the boy responded without missing a beat.

They were now staring each other down, all was silent as the wind blew softly.

"Let's be real, Sans, after everything you've seen, everything you've been through by this point," Chara voiced, "do you really think you can handle another reset?"

Sans remained silent.

"And even if you think you can," Chara expressed, "do you really think it's fair to let that happen to your dear friends? Put Toriel back in those cold ruins, with only her books and snails to keep her company, waiting to see if a human will fall down again? Put Alphys back in her old lab, lonely and insecure, surrounded by her failures and regrets? Bring the risk of Frisk being taken over by **_me_** and letting me do things **_my way_**?"

"Stop." Sans said quietly.

"And of course, bring Papyrus back to a sad, friendless life of him striving for a goal he'll never achieve because he doesn't have the nerve to hurt anyone, even if they deserve it," the demon boy went on, "and live every day in blissful ignorance, because you can't bring yourself to tell him what you know, what may happen when he encounters his first human."

"Stop." Sans said, more audibly.

"How many times, Sans?" Chara pressed snidely, "How many times did you see your brother die? How many times did you see him walk away and wondering when or if he would come back that time? How many times did he offer mercy and receive either mercy or death in return? Swearing as he died that he still believed that anybody could be good if they tried?"

"STOP!" Sans snapped.

Chara looked on curiously

"I won't...let you...reset." the short skeleton growled, his eye glowing intsenly.

"I know you won't," the demon boy responded scornfully, "because... **you just can't afford to not care anymore**...right?"

Sans lowered his head.

"Because, if it did happen," Chara said derisively, " **we'd just end up right back at the start, with no memory of it**...right? Because **you gave up trying to go back a long time ago**... _right_?"

The demon boy then held out his hand.

"Well...am I _RIGHT_!?" he pushed.

At that same time, unaware of what was transpiring merely yards away, Frisk was having another dream.

 **(Dream)**

Frisk woke up in the clearing, finding himself alone and surrounded by grayness, however, just like his previous dreams, he was not afraid, because he already knew what awaited him.

He looked around and, as expected, found the same being that had visited his dreams before, the same tall, slender, black-clad man that seemed to be watching him as of late. This time, the being was sitting on his knees in the grass.

"Hello again," Frisk said, sitting down next to the visitor, "I had a feeling I'd see you again."

The skeletal man acknowledged the human boy's presence.

"So, about before," Frisk voiced, "I guess you were trying to warn me about Chara, which is nice, but, I wish I could've been more prepared, then maybe I could've kept all of my friends safe."

Seeing how sad the child looked, the spindling visitor gently placed his white, skinless hand on Frisk's head.

Frisk looked up at the odd Monster.

"I wish I could understand your language," the boy said, "I have so many questions, some which probably can't be answered through brain pictures."

Without removing his hand from the child's head, the mysterious man gestured to himself with his free hand.

"You wanna try anyway?" Frisk wondered.

The being nodded in response.

"Okay then," Frisk voiced, "well...what's your name?"

He felt the man's bony hand tense as he brought a new image into his mind, that of what looked like a table, with a small rectangular object on it, the object was engraved with seemingly random symbols, beneath which was an intelligible word "W.D. Gaster". Frisk then realized that what he was looking at was a nametag.

The image then faded away.

"W...D...Gaster?" Frisk mused, "Is that you? "Gaster"?"

His visitor nodded with a smile on his face.

"Hello, Gaster;" Frisk responded, "but...wait...Gaster...that sounds...familiar. Weren't you the scientist that worked for the king...before Alphys, that is?"

Gaster nodded.

Frisk thought about it.

"People said...that you disappeared one day," he affirmed, "without a trace...that an experiment went wrong and you were split across time and space."

Gaster's face turned solemn as he looked at the ground.

"What happened to you?" Frisk wondered.

The skeletal man shook his head.

"You don't wanna talk about that, huh," the human boy responded, "that's okay, maybe another time."

He thought of another question.

"Um...are you...related to any of my friends?" He inquired, "Like...Sans and Papyrus perhaps?"

Gaster nodded sadly.

Frisk looked at him and thought hard, then got an idea.

"Are you...their...d-" he tried to ask.

Suddenly, Gaster planted his hand on the boy's head.

Frisk saw a new image, that of Chara standing in front of Sans with his hand outstretched.

"Come on, Sans." was all he heard Chara say before the image vanished from his head.

Frisk looked at a now grave looking Gaster.

"Sans needs help!" the boy uttered.

 **(End Dream)**

Frisk's eyes snapped open, he looked around and saw that Sans was no longer next to him. He also noticed that the moon was now a vibrant red color.

"Sans?" he called, "Sans!?"

His reaction woke the others.

"Guys," Frisk said frantically, "Sans is gone!"

"What?" Papyrus responded, "Where could he-Frisk!?"

The human boy had already gotten to his feet and started running, for some reason he felt the need to run forward and as he did, he noticed something some yards away. It was unmistakably Sans, his eye glowing through the darkness, and in front of him was what Frisk could barely make out to be Chara, surrounded by his shadowy aura that caught the bloody glow of the altered moonlight.

"Sans!" Frisk yelled, running as fast as his tiny legs could carry him, "SANS!"

Just as he was only ten yards away, he witness Sans take Chara's outstretched hand, allowing himself to be absorbed, the sight of which stopped Frisk in his tracks.

"No," the boy whimpered, falling to his knees, "not Sans."

"SANS!" he heard from behind him.

It was then he saw Papyrus catch up to him, with Undyne and Alphys trailing behind.

At that moment, the aura that surrounded Chara flared up into a blinding yellow color, surging with great energy.

"Mmm...yes!" Chara hissed blissfully, "It's far more than I imagined it would be!"

"You fiend!" Papyrus cried, "You've gone too far, release my brother at once!"

"Papyrus." Frisk said tensely, grabbing the tall skeleton's hand.

"You're just asking to be destroyed," Undyne growled, "you hellish little-"

"Now, now," Chara announced, his voice now chillingly unrecognizable, "everyone calm down, you should be grateful, that miserably little bone pile just saved all of your lives, now that I have exactly what I need, I believe I'm all done with you, bye now."

The demon boy was about to leave,

"Wait!" Frisk asserted, "I don't care what you say and I don't care how powerful you are now, even if you _are_ done with us, we're certainly nowhere near done with you!"

"Is that so?" Chara replied dryly.

"Yes," Frisk avowed, his remaining friends standing by his sides, "you'll see, soon enough, having all of those souls inside of you is going to backfire on you, hard, and when that happens, I'll be there ready to lead them home."

"You're serious right now?" the overly powered demon boy responded, not fazed at all.

"I am serious," Frisk said firmly, getting an idea "and if you're really as powerful as you say you are, then prove it!"

Chara looked on dubiously.

"You want me to show you how much power I have," he scoffed, "right here and now?"

"No, not now," Frisk replied, "tomorrow night."

"Frisk?" Alphys uttered curiously.

"Tomorrow night," Frisk told Chara, "we'll meet at that hill," he pointed to the hill they had originally been heading for, "and we'll see which of us is more determined."

Chara rolled his eyes.

"Unless you're scared." Frisk stated.

The demon boy glared at him, then closed his eyes.

"All right, Frisk," he responded earnestly, "I'll agree to your terms, if you win I'll release the souls and undo everything I've done since I came back, but, if I win...well...you'll see."

The two boys glared hatefully at each other as they reluctantly shook hands.

* * *

Yay, new chapter done and since the reviews are visible again, I can thank the anonymous reviews I got that gave me suggestions for what to do, which is nice, because my original idea was not so great.

Anyway, more to come eventually, hoping for a good battle scene to come out of this.


	5. Chapter 5

The Light That Leads Us Home

Chapter 5.

Final prep time.

* * *

Darkness, that was all that Sans could see, just wall to wall darkness as he remained floating in nothingness; he felt no pain or discomfort of any kind, in fact, he did not feel anything at all, which in itself was rather unsettling.

He did not move, even if he wanted to, he could not, he just stayed completely motionless, honestly, he was not sure if there was any point in trying to do anything. After all, he was, by all accounts, trapped. At first, his mind was flooded with thoughts regarding the outside, his friends, his brother, the world in general; now he just wondered when and how it would all come to an end.

The only thing he did not consider much was his own fate, he was not counting on anything one way or another, if Frisk encountered Chara and beat him, the souls were freed, if the opposite happened, they were all doomed. It honestly did not matter to Sans, better it all came to a sudden end rather then starting from the beginning, with no guarantee of a good ending.

As he remained still, descending into numbness, Sans could not help but feel as if he was being watched by someone. It was a familiar feeling, one that usually brought a sense of dread and annoyance, but, now, it just felt...baffling.

"Heh...quite the bind we're in..." he muttered coolly, "eh...Asriel?"

At the same time, Chara was literally tearing through another town, using his newly acquired power, via Sans' soul, relishing every bit of his new strength as he obliterated every living thing, big and small, that came into view.

"So, Frisk is serious about facing off with me?" he muttered, "Does he really think that he stands a chance with determination alone?"

He flicked his wrist, sending a street sign flying off into the distance, smirking as he heard the distant sound of glass shattering.

"Is he desperate, stubborn," Chara mused, "or maybe just plain suicidal? Perhaps he has a trick up his sleeve? I wouldn't put it past him, not after everything that I've seen. He'll put up quite a fight, that I can be certain of, but, if he thinks I'll be anything like that quivering, crybaby fur pile, he's got another thing coming."

He then looked down at himself.

"Do you hear that, Asriel, I'm referring to _you_ ," he proclaimed, "there will be now holding me back this time, I'm going to flay your new friend alive and I'll make sure that you see every moment of it and it will be all your fault, because I would not have had to do this if you would have just stuck to the plan all those years ago."

* * *

Dawn had broke on the horizon, Frisk and co. after barely getting any sleep the night before were slowly making their way toward the hill that Frisk had sworn to face Chara on.

Frisk, naturally, was deep in thought, wondering what the best course of action was; in terms of resources, he did not have a lot on hand, and yet, as he pulled the hood Sans' jacket over his head, he felt his determination increasing slowly, but surely.

His thoughts were momentarily interrupted when he was suddenly scooped up by Papyrus.

"You seem to be falling behind," the tall skeleton said, "so allow me to make the trek easier for you."

Frisk smiled in response, then went back to his thoughts.

" _I have to stop Chara,_ " he thought, " _I **will** stop Chara...but...where will I start? I have to reach through to the trapped souls, but, will my own power be enough to pierce that horrid aura?_"

The child ruminated on the subject for almost an hour, before he ended up falling asleep.

When the three remaining Monsters realized that Frisk was asleep, they decided to stop, also feeling tried themselves.

Sure enough, as the human boy slept, he fell into another dream.

(Dream)

Once again, Frisk awoke in the same gray void that graced him in the previous ones and now that he knew what was going on, he wasted no time.

"Hello," he called out, "Mr...Dr. Gaster...are you there?"

He looked all around, until the gray haze in front of him began to part, revealing the familiar, looming figure that he had been looking for.

Frisk quickly approached the skeletal man, who looked down at him intently; Gaster then reached a bony hand out and tenderly stroked the collar of the jacket the human boy was wearing, Sans' jacket.

Frisk looked at Gaster's hand, the fingers enfolding the edge of the blue fabric, and brought his own hand up to his shoulder.

"Oh, yeah," the human boy sighed, "I'm sorry...I couldn't do anything."

The towering, skeletal being pulled his hand away.

"But, I promise," Frisk affirmed, "I'm going to get him back, I'll get everyone back...I am determined."

Several seconds of silence went by.

"But...to be honest," the child voiced, "I'm not sure if my strength alone is going to be enough, Chara's determined too, and he has all those souls. I'm afraid...that I might not be able to do this with my own resources."

He looked up at Gaster.

"So I wonder," Frisk asked, "do you have any ideas for me?"

Gaster stared at him for a moment, then he placed his hand on the boy's head.

A surprising vision came to Frisk's mind, he saw Asriel standing next to a lifeless-looking Chara, whom he picked up off the ground and once he did, his entire body began to transform.

The vision ended there, leaving Frisk feeling confused.

"Um...I'm not sure if I understand." he said.

Gaster responded simply by gesturing to Frisk himself.

The human boy thought about it, the meaning of image, it was so brief, yet so significant.

Right then, Frisk came to a conclusion.

"Wait..." he inquired, "are you saying...I should do _that_...what they did? I should absorb another soul?"

Gaster nodded.

Frisk had never considered the idea of gaining more soul power for himself, because, it did not seem possible in his state. He never died or underwent any sort or major scientific or magical exposure, so it never seemed to be an option.

"But...how can I do that?" the boy wondered, "I know all it takes is the soul of a Monster and Human, but, doesn't one of those participants have to be dead...or something?"

Gaster responded by gesturing to himself, then to Frisk.

Frisk looked on curiously.

The tall Monster man repeated his action a few more times.

"You..." the child responded, stunned, "you want to..." he swallowed hard, and inquired, "how is that possible? Even if you have that kind of power...that can't really be done in a dream...can it?"

Gaster looked as if he were thinking about something, his expression almost looked guilty.

"This...is...just a dream," Frisk questioned, "isn't it? Or...at least...aren't you?"

The skeletal man seemed to be thinking about something, the he lightly prodded the human boy's head with his finger.

"You're...in my head?" Frisk responded quizzically.

Gaster got down to the child's level, he pointed at his own eyes, then at Frisk's, then he tapped the boy on the forehead. Frisk looked into the skeleton man's eyes, despite being vacant holes, Frisk could see a clear presence of life and placidity lying within. It did not surprise him, every time he had met this mysterious visitor in his dreams, he felt confused and curious, but, he had never felt threatened, he never felt that this being meant to do him harm.

"No...you're not just in my head," the human boy voiced, "really, this is the only way you can appear to me...isn't it?"

He got a nod in response.

"Why appear to me, though?" Frisk wondered, "Why not...Sans and Pap? Wouldn't they want to see you?"

Gaster looked away sadly.

"Do they...hate you?" Frisk asked carefully.

The skeleton shook his head.

"Does it...have to do with how you disappeared?" the boy asked.

Gaster nodded.

"So...something that happened..." Frisk mused, trying to piece it together, "won't let you appear to anyone...save for me. Does it have to do with my determination? My soul?"

Gaster nodded again.

"And...why only recently have you decided to show yourself to me?" Frisk wondered, "Why do you want to help me? Is there something you want from me?"

The spindling man shrugged.

"Is there something you need or want done that only I can do?" Frisk inquired.

Gaster thought about it and nodded.

Frisk looked at him for the longest time, trying to get a read on what the man could be thinking.

Then, Gaster reached his hands out and tugged at both sides of Sans' jacket.

"It has to do with Sans?" Frisk wondered, glancing down at the jacket.

Gaster nodded.

"About Sans..." the human boy mused, "you...want something...from Sans?"

Gaster shook his head.

Frisk thought about it again.

"You want something..." Frisk tried again, " _for_ Sans."

Gaster nodded.

"What do you want for him?" Frisk asked.

Gaster sat up straight and forced a smile, the gestured to his face with both hands.

"Smile?" Frisk contemplated, "Oh...happy?"

Gaster nodded.

"You want...Sans...to be...happy?" Frisk mused again.

Gaster nodded, with a genuine smile.

Frisk was glad he finally knew what the Monster was trying to tell him, but, it also left him dismal.

"Sans...isn't happy?" he voiced, discouraged, "But...he always seems to be in a good mood, we always have fun together, he always has joke to tell, and...he smiles more than anyone else I know. Why would Sans be unhappy? Why wouldn't he say anything about it?"

No response.

"Is it because of you?" Frisk questioned, "Because you disappeared?"

A contrite-looking Gaster closed his eyes.

Frisk looked down at the ground.

"I know that feeling...it doesn't feel good at all," the human boy expressed, "but...I'm guessing in your case you _didn't want_ to disappear, you didn't want to leave your kids behind, you didn't want to be forgotten, you would've come back if you could've...I bet, unless I'm wrong."

There was silence for the longest time, then Gaster placed his hand on the side of the child's face.

"F-Frissssk," the boy suddenly heard, "Frisk?"

Frisk quickly raised his head to look at the man in front of him and, to his surprise, the skeleton's mouth began to move.

"Do...you...understand...me...now?" Gaster spoke slowly, his voice husky, yet mild.

The human child nodded in awe.

"Frisk..." the skeletal man voiced, "I...haven't done this in such a long time, only a smile number of people could understand my speech. My boys, my followers, and, of course, the king. This...isn't my first time appearing to somebody like this...but...they either turned me away when they couldn't understand or were too afraid of me to even try. Honestly...I was on the verge of giving up."

"God...you must have been so lonely." Frisk responded.

"The loneliness...I could handle," Gaster affirmed, "the worst part was...just the sheer frustration of my plight. Being able to see and hear everything, but, not being able to respond or get involved in any way."

"So...you really were always listening," Frisk mused, "and...you were watching me that whole time, weren't you?"

Gaster nodded.

"I had to...to see what would happen that time." he said.

"You wanted to see if I would kill everyone or spare everyone," the boy sighed, "I understand, someone tested me on that relentlessly."

"The flower." Gaster stated.

Silence.

"Let's not dwell on that right now," the skeleton man offered, "let's focus on what's important now."

"Okay," Frisk asked, "well...how come I can hear you talk like this now, when I couldn't before?"

"It took me quite a while to learn the vocal language," Gaster explained, "I couldn't try it until I was absolutely sure I had finally gotten it down; it's hard to learn when you're so engrossed in what you're taking in that you forget to make note of it. But, being here like this, communicating with you, one on one, just makes it so much easier."

"Well...I'm glad I could help," Frisk said, "even if I didn't understand what was happening."

Frisk noticed that the grayness around them was slowly dissipating.

"Frisk, there's a lot to talk about," Gaster sighed, "I have so much to explain and I know you must have so many more questions for me, but..."

"But...we don't have the time right now." Frisk replied.

Gaster nodded.

"I'm facing Chara on that hill tonight," Frisk voiced, "I'm sure he's getting himself prepared, if he isn't already, I have to be prepared too."

He looked up at the sky, now visible through the haze.

"So...we can really combine souls?" he asked curiously.

"It won't take a minute," Gaster assured him, "it might feel a bit strange, but, it shouldn't hurt."

Frisk looked him in the eyes.

"I trust you," he said gamely, "let's do it."

Gaster held his bony hands out and Frisk placed his own tiny hands on the skeletal man's open palms, then, Gaster closed his eyes, urging Frisk to do the same. Soon, Frisk began to feel a peculiar sensation, that of being submerged in a lukewarm pool of water. He then felt a surge of energy well up inside his body, like the greatest adrenaline rush he had never imagined.

With that, Frisk gasped aloud and opened his eyes.

 **(End "Dream")**

Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys were still asleep, unaware of what was happening.

"Guys," they heard, "wake up!"

The three Monsters were instantly awoke, finding that it was now nighttime.

"O-Oh my goodness," Alphys yawned, "we slept through the whole day?"

"Frisk are you r..." Papyrus started to speak, before actually getting a look at the human boy, "...Frisk?"

The three stared, awestruck, at the child, who had taken on an appearance that made him almost unrecognizable, his body had grown to the size of a young teenager, his hair had turned black, as did his eyes, and his skin was white as polished bone, his clothing had changed as well,

Frisk looked himself over, for a moment, he was shocked, but, then he seemed to just accept it.

"It's time." he attested boldly.

* * *

Oh my, that dragged on more than I intended, I kind of got a little too engrossed in the Gaster-Frisk conversation. There is just too much that can be done with that, but, luckily, I managed to find a stooping point.

Next chapter, SOUL power clash time.


	6. Chapter 6

The Light That Leads Us Home

Chapter 6.

SOUL power fight time is a go.

* * *

It was midnight, indicated by the fact that the moon was high in the center of the open nighttime sky, all was silent on the tall hill, save for the whipping sound of the cool winds picking up. Chara was the first one to arrive at the top of the grassy mound, the aura surrounding his mutated body glowing a deep red and purple.

"Well, I made it," he huffed, "where is that softhearted, gutless-"

"Oh, Chaaaaaraaaaa," he heard, "are you looking for meeeee?"

The demon boy turned around to find the newly transformed, soul-fused Frisk, who was surrounded by a striking blue and gray aura, followed by Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys. The sight left Chara visibly shocked.

"I hope you're ready," Frisk, whose voice was semi-distorted, "because you're not the only one with tricks."

Chara looked on hatefully.

"How did you...no...it doesn't matter," the demon boy growled, "I still have more power than you!"

"Enough talking already," Frisk retorted, "I don't wanna _hear_ about your power, I wanna _see_ it, now GET OVER HERE(God forgive me, I couldn't resist)!"

With that, Frisk sent out a shadowy limb of his own and forcibly yanked Chara towards him.

"You. Will. Release. My. Friends!" Frisk asserted furiously, "My _FAMILY_!"

An anxious Chara managed tear himself away and slash the other boy across the face with his beastly claws.

"You want them back?" Chara spat, "Then you'll have to tear them from my **_determined_** body!"

He grabbed Frisk by the throat and proceeded to squeeze viciously, however, mustering the power of his determination, Frisk grabbed Chara's monstrous hands and slowly, but surely, pried the them off of his throat. As soon as he was free, the pacifist boy lunged forward, head-butting his adversary with all his strength, sending him staggering back a couple feet.

Chara quickly focused himself and lunged at Frisk, tackling him to the ground, as he readied another strike, Frisk quickly filled his mouth to the brim with saliva and spit the lot of it into the demon child's face. Due to his power boost, Frisk saliva had seemed to turn acidic, as it appeared to burn into Chara's flesh on contact.

"YAAIII!" Chara squealed, rubbing his face madly.

While Chara was distracted, Frisk promptly struck him with a shadowy limb, sending him flying several feet away. Though dazed, Chara quickly rose from the ground and glared at his opponent.

"All right..." he hissed, "let's get serious!"

His body began to glow more intensely than it had before, then Frisk followed suit by tapping into his own soul power. Then the two charged at each other.

At the same time, Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys were watching with anticipation and cheering Frisk on.

"Go, Frisk," Papyrus called, "get him!"

"Tear that little bastard apart!" Undyne shouted.

Alphy shook tensely as she watched Frisk clash with Chara.

"Damn, it looks like they're equally matched." Undyne groaned.

"It's not enough," Alphys said fretfully, "he needs help."

"What can we do?" Papyrus wondered, "We're just moral support, Frisk is the one with soul power."

"But that's just it," Alphys said, "he needs _more SOULS_!"

"I doubt the three of us would be enough." Undyne stated.

"I know," her lizard girlfriend replied, "that's why...I need to make some calls!"

The scientist quickly pulled out her phone and began to dial.

"Help is on the way, Frisk." she mumbled.

"Well, while you're doing that," Undyne attested, pumping her fists, "I'm going in!"

Undyne then sprinted toward the action at full speed, hollering brazenly.

"Wait for me, Undyne!" Papyrus called, following after her, "I'm coming, Sans!"

After a simultaneous attack, Frisk and Chara sent each other skidding back in opposite directions, breathing heavily as they stared each other down.

"Frisk!" he heard.

He glanced back and saw Undyne and Papyrus running towards him.

"Absorb us," Undyne instructed, "now!"

Frisk was surprised at first, but, he quickly nodded and took both of his friends into his shadowy limbs, absorbing them into his body, feeding both his soul power and determination.

"FRIIIISK!" Chara yelled, "I'm not done with you yet!"

"Believe me, Chara," the pacifist child retorted, his body altering even more, "I'm only getting started!"

The demon boy charged at him once again, but, this time, Frisk jumped high into the air, effectively dodging the attack. Chara looked up at him in annoyance.

"You have all that power, dude," Frisk scoffed, "so use it!"

Chara responded by slowly raising into the air, meeting Frisk face to face, and firing a magic attack at him, however, Frisk managed to use Gaster's teleportation powers to dodge every projectile sent his way.

"Hold still!" the demon boy growled irately.

"Try harder!" Frisk countered.

Chara responded by rushing toward his enemy, his claws ready, in an attempt to impale him. But, clever one that he was, Frisk teleported himself behind Chara and summoned one of Papyrus's bone attacks, sending it flying into Chara. While the demon boy was daze, Frisk mustered an attack in the form of Undyne's spears and sent them flying, though, Chara managed to recover in time to block the attack.

"Okay," Chara huffed, "I'll admit it, you're pretty good, but, don't forget, I'm the one with more souls inside me."

"Not for long!" they heard form below.

Looking down, Frisk could not help but smile, as he saw Alphys appear on the hilltop, followed by a large group of Monsters, the same Monsters who had been evacuated the other day. Even the amalgamates that had been created in Alphys old lab had come.

"Everyone," Alphys announced, "to Frisk! give him your power!"

"Yeah!" Monster kid called out, pushing his way to the front of group, "We're here for you, Frisk!"

Chara looked on, stupefied, as Frisk gratefully absorbed the crowd of his Monster friends, his body slowly changing to accommodate the great influx of new soul power. As soon as it was done, Frisk looked down at his newly altered body.

"You were saying, Chara?" he sneered.

Chara let out a scream of rage, the aura surrounding his body bursting into flames, as he once again lunged at Frisk, who managed to grab ahold of him. Firmly grasping Chara's shoulders, Frisk gazed intently into the demons empty eyes.

"I'll save them," Frisk asserted adamantly, "they're in there somewhere...aren't they?!"

Mustering all the power that he could possibly build, Frisk reeled back as far as he could bend and threw his head as hard as he could right into Chara's face. As soon as he did, everything changed, he now found himself in a black void, his body in a normal form.

There he found himself face to face with Chara, who also appeared in his original human body.

"Huh?" Chara uttered, looking around, "What's happening? What have you done?"

Frisk responded by tackling his enemy and pinning him firmly on the ground.

"This is inside, Chara," the pacifist boy affirmed, as the maniacal boy squirmed under his hold, "this is where all the souls that get absorbed go, they're all around us as we speak."

"But, how!?" Chara groaned, struggling even more.

"Because, thanks to an unexpected friend's power," Frisk explained, "as soon as I made physical contact with you the way I did, I was able to corner you in the one place that you couldn't possibly escape and that's here...in the void created by my own artificial, soul-powered body."

Chara looked on in horror.

"Wait...you... _absorbed_ me?" the demonic boy replied anxiously, "But, how is that possible? Humans can't absorb other Human souls, it's not possible!"

He shoved Frisk off of him, jumped to his feet, and tried to run away, only to collide with what seemed to be an invisible wall.

"You're right, it's impossible for Humans to absorb other Human souls...normally," Frisk voiced, "but, I think we both know the truth, you rejected your own humanity long ago, didn't you? When you killed yourself and forced Asriel to fuse your souls together, when you tried and failed to destroy humanity the first time, when you embraced your new powers and finally spilled Human blood for the first time, in the end, I don't think it's possible for you to get any more inhuman than you are right now!"

Chara clawed frantically at the invisible wall, pounded it with his tiny fists, desperate to get away.

"And now that I finally have the chance," Frisk asserted, "now that you have nowhere to run, I'm going to make sure you never hurt anyone ever again, I'll undo all the damage that you've done."

He approached the other child and forcibly spun him around, gripping his shoulders tightly.

"Starting with freeing those trapped souls," Frisk said firmly, "they're in there...somewhere."

He stared fixedly into Chara's anxiety-wracked gaze and closed his eyes, Frisk channeled his determination and his mind flooded with images of every one of his Monster friends. They were there, he could feel them.

Using the power that was lent to him, Frisk reached into the darkness, the visions of his friends flashing through his mind like a slideshow.

"Everyone," he called out into the darkness, "I know you're there, I know you can hear me, it's going to be okay, I'm going to save you all!"

Frisk looked around, summoning the energy of the souls that he had absorbed himself.

" _Come on_ , _guys_ ," he thought, " _help me_."

Feeling the power surging around him, Frisk was finally able to break through the darkness.

Inside the void, the first to notice the pacifist boy's presence was Asriel, who looked up through the darkness, feeling the comforting energy resonating from outside the void.

"Frisk!" he uttered, "He's here! He's going to save us! Frisk, I knew you'd come!"

Then, slowly, the other souls became aware of what was happening.

"F-Frisk?" Asgore mumbled.

"Frisk!" Toriel gasped.

"Kid?" Sans uttered weakly.

"Deary!" Muffet said gladly.

"Little buddy." Burgerpants said calmly.

"Oh my God!" Bratty and Catty voiced simultaneously, "It's Frisk!"

The reactions continued as all of the souls awoke from the darkness, calling out to Frisk.

Just like his confrontation with Asriel the first time, Frisk could feel every soul resonating in the darkness, he could feel everyone's hearts beating as one as the voices of the souls pierced through the nothingness.

"Frisk! Frisk! Frisk!" the souls chanted continuously, their voices bringing his determination to levels he had no idea it could reach.

Chara, at the moment was huddled on the ground, horrified by the turn of events as new feeling made its way into his heart.

"What is this...feeling?" he shuddered, breathing heavily, "I never felt this before...no...is this...this is...I feel...regret."

Frisk looked down at him.

"No...I have no regrets," the boy groaned in pain, "I've never regretted everything in my life, God...I hate this!"

"Do you know what the biggest difference between us is, Chara?" Frisk voiced, awash with solace, "The determination we both feel, even though equal in strength, are two entirely different kinds. Your determination comes from your desire to hurt and destroy, mine comes from my desire to save and protect. Your LOVE is no match for my love."

Chara looked on dispassionately.

"One thing was made clear to me," Frisk continued, "someone will always be there for me, to protect me, to help me, no matter what happens, I'll never be alone, whereas you on the other hand, you could have every soul in the world within you and you'll still be all alone, because no matter what you take, no matter what you accomplish now, it won't change the fact that you have nobody!"

Chara looked down at the ground aloofly.

Frisk finally was able to send himself into the darkness and the first souls he encountered were none other than his new parental figures.

"Toriel!" he said gladly, "Asgore!"

"Oh, Frisk!" Toriel replied with relief.

"I knew you come for us." Asgore said proudly.

Frisk reached out to them and the two goat Monsters each took one of his tiny hands in theirs, freeing them from the void.

Chara winced as he felt the souls be released.

Frisk travelled through the darkness again, reaching to every soul he encountered, patting Burgerpants on the shoulder, being double-hugged tightly by Bratty and Catty, bowing before Muffet, who curtsied as she took his hand, and so on.

At last, Frisk made it to Sans.

"Sans!" the Human boy cried, "I'm so glad I found you!"

"Hey kiddo," the short skeleton replied, "you did it, I don't know how you did it, but, you did it. Sorry if I made you worry."

"It's okay," Frisk said, "I'm just happy to have you back."

As they grabbed hands, the child lunged forward and hugged his skeleton friend tightly.

"Ha ha," Sans sighed, returning the hug, "ah buddy, you're so full of surprises."

Sans then vanished from the void, just as the others did, leaving Frisk, just like the first time, with one left to save.

Running through the darkness, Frisk found the one he had been out to save from the very beginning.

"Asriel!" he called out.

"Frisk!" Asriel called back, "I knew you'd save me! Even if things were starting to look pretty grim, somehow, I just knew you save us all...again."

Frisk threw out his hands, which the goat boy wasted no time grabbing, and found himself pulled into a hug.

"Frisk, I'm so happy..." Asriel voiced, "but, you know...there's still one left to save...please..."

As the goat boy disappeared from the void, Frisk was left confused.

" _One left?_ " he thought curiously.

With all of the souls free, Frisk looked down at Chara, the fallen human boy appearing motionless and completely defeated. Just like Asriel, when his soul was saved, Chara was now back to his original, long forgotten, self. Though, this did not appear to be as hopeful as the goat boy had been.

"Well?" Chara suddenly spoke.

He looked up at Frisk.

"This is your chance," the disgraced child said, "you've taken everything away from me, I have nothing to fight back with, so, now's your chance to end this...end me...kill me..."

It was then Frisk realized what Asriel had meant, the one left that still needed to be save...was Chara; as much as Frisk detested the idea, despite everything that happened, being the true pacifist that he was, Frisk could not find it in himself to hurt the ruined boy any further, let alone kill him.

"Just...kill me already," Chara begged, now in tears, "please, kill me!"

Frisk merely shook his head in response.

Chara looked on, dumbfounded.

"Are you serious right now?" he questioned in disbelief.

Frisk said nothing.

"I absorbed the souls of nearly every Monster on the planet," Chara expressed, "I killed more Humans than I could possibly count, not to mention what I did centuries ago...and you still find it in yourself to _spare_ me?"

Frisk said nothing, he simply offered his hand to the defeated child with solemn look on his face.

"No!" Chara growled, using what little power he had left to place a barrier between himself and Frisk, "I don't want mercy! I don't want to be saved! I hate humanity! I hate you! I hate me! I hate...everything...I've done..."

The wretched boy broke down sobbing.

"God...why do I feel so bad?" he lamented, "Why this sudden remorse, when I've never been anything but numb my entire life?"

"It's like I said," Frisk affirmed, "having all of those souls inside of you, was bound to backfire; when Asriel had all those souls inside of him, he felt what he hadn't in a long time, while, you on the other hand, you managed to feel...something...something you never could before, from what I gathered."

"I've gone my entire life, feeling absolutely nothing, and I took advantage of that every way I could," Chara wept, "I hurt so many people, even killed people back in my day, just knowing that I could do it and not care...that's why...that's why I climbed the mountain..."

Frisk looked on curiously.

Chara looked up with a miserable smile, tears flowing relentlessly from his eyes.

"I killed...a kid..." he explained with a forced laugh, "then...I killed another...then another...then another...and when my parents saw what I had done...I killed them too, I didn't care, they sucked...I hated them and they hated me...so...I had no reason to leave them be. The villagers...they chased me...into the woods...I admit...I was scared, then...I remembered...the mountain...the legends. It was my only chance, so, I ran up the mountain side as fast as I could manage...the mob...they were too scared to follow me any further...so...they gave up. I wasn't sure what to do next, so...I just kept going up the mountain, until I reached the top, that when...I tripped over a root...and tumbled over the Cliffside...and..."

"That's how you ended up in the underground." Frisk sighed.

"I had no regrets," Chara huffed, "I never looked back on any of that, because I just didn't care, but now...now I just want it to be over, I just...want...my existence...to cease. But...now...even that isn't possible."

The red-eyed boy forced himself to his feet, turned away from Frisk, and began to stagger away.

"Wait..." Frisk called after him, "you don't have to..."

"Listen. To. Me!" Chara avowed, his voice shaking, "You need to understand something, I know your type, a pacifist to the end, you're gonna spend your whole life trying to be merciful, sparing people who don't deserve it, wanting to " _save_ " them. But, in the end, that's just not possible, because...no matter how forgiving or compassionate you are, no matter how badly you want to help people, you'll never be able to save everyone...because...some people don't want mercy...some people just don't want to be saved!"

Frisk looked on thoughtfully.

"Ruminate on that," Chara sighed, "and, when you leave here, pass that message onto Asriel, as awful as that sounds, it's the unfair truth, and he needs to be aware of it. Plus, he needs to forget about me, _they_ need to forget about me, because the past is best left buried and digging it up is just a waste of mentality."

"They loved you." Frisk stated.

Chara looked away, but then glanced back one last time.

"That's their fault," he huffed, "I never asked for their charity, I only wanted the power; it's time to let go."

With that, Chara turned his back to the merciful boy and walked off until he disappeared from sight, then, just like that, the darkness had completely dissolved.

Just like that, it was over and Frisk was left stunned.

"Sorry, Asriel..." he sighed deeply, "couldn't do it this time."

It was then he realized that he was back on the hilltop, he could see the first light of the day breaking on the horizon. Lying on the ground in front of him was Asriel, who was just then recovering from unconsciousness.

Asriel moaned quietly as he rubbed his eyes, coming back into awareness.

"Howdy." he heard.

Asriel looked up and saw Frisk standing in front of him, filling him with instant joy; the human boy grabbed him by his hands and pulled him to his feet. As he stood up, the goat boy looked around curiously.

"It's okay," Frisk said, "you're safe now."

A bewildered Asriel looked on in wonder, then looked concerned.

"And...um..." he spoke meekly, "Chara?"

Frisk looked down remorsefully.

"He went away..." he explained, "he...refused to be saved."

The revelation saddened the goat child, who began to tear up.

"I'm sorry, Asriel," Frisk expressed, "I tried, but, he just didn't want mercy...I guess it's true, no matter how hard we try...we can't save everyone."

Asriel rubbed his eyes again, forcing himself to calm down.

"I understand..." he sniffled, "I just thought...maybe...if anyone could possibly help him...you could."

Frisk shook his head.

"Asriel, Chara's a lost cause," he asservated solemnly, "whatever made him the way he was, whatever made him do what dove him up the mountain, that brought him to the underground all those years ago, it left his soul and his mentality beyond repair, to the point where all he wanted was to put an end to his existence."

"I know...I shouldn't pity Chara, he did such horrible, unforgivable things," Asriel expressed, "but, still, it just feels so...unfair, I mean, as terrible as he was, he was still just a kid, the same age as us, and not only did he end his own life, but, he wasted his only shot at a second chance and, in the end, nobody could help him."

He hung his head sadly.

"Yeah, I know, it's so messed up," Frisk replied, "and this probably won't be the last time we meet someone who doesn't want to be saved."

He placed his hands on the goat boy's shoulders.

"But, we can't let that discourage us from trying," he professed, "all we can do is stay determined and hold onto our hopes and remember why we're here now."

He looked intently into Asriel's eyes.

"You're _here_ now Asriel," Frisk attested, "that's all that matters to me now, that's all that concerned me from the very beginning, saving you, the only one I wasn't able to save before. Now you're finally here, where you belong."

Asriel looked on gratefully as he legs suddenly gave out, of course, Frisk was quick to catch him as he collapsed against the human boy's shoulder.

"I gotcha." Frisk mumbled.

"Frisk, this feels...way to good to be true," an elated Asriel said, "I keep expecting myself to wake up, still a flower, and find out that this was all just a dream. Frisk, I'm so happy, here we haven't known each other all that long and you've already done more for me than Chara ever has."

"You have to let Chara go, that's what he wanted," the human boy voiced, gently rubbing the goat boy's back, "a lot of time has passed and everything has changed, you need to move on. Besides, you have a whole new life awaiting you, with a whole new world out there to explore."

Asriel hugged him tightly.

"And we'll do it all together," Frisk affirmed, "you, me, Toriel and Asgore, the whole family."

"The family." Asriel mumbled.

He then pulled away.

"Oh...but, what if the rest of the family doesn't like me?" the goat boy wondered tensely, "Even if Mom and Dad are happy to see me back, I doubt everyone else will be as welcoming. All that stuff I did as a flower..."

"Asriel," Frisk replied, "not everybody knows about that."

"Sans..." the goat boy stated somberly.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Frisk said, taking him by the hand, "everything will be fine, whatever happens, I swear, I'll never let anything hurt you or anyone I care about ever again, I'll always be there for you, for everyone...I made that choice long ago."

Asriel smiled placidly.

"Now, come on," Frisk told him, "let's go find the others."

* * *

Better end it there, I know it seems strange, but, this went on longer than I expected.

We will wrap this us up in the next chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

The Light That Leads Us Home

Chapter 7.

Finale time.

* * *

Everyone who had be freed from Chara's hold had slowly began to wake up, all around the hill side, Monsters regained consciousness and looked around, trying to figure out where they were. Then, they went about regrouping with one another.

"Oh my God, Bratty," Catty said emotionally, "that was, like, _so_ terrifying!"

"I know, right?" Bratty replied, "I, like, totally thought that it was the end for us!"

Muffet was surrounded by her smaller, spider helpers.

"Oh, were you worried about me?" she soothed, "Don't fret, my dears, all is well now."

"SANS!" Papyrus cried, snatching his brother up into tight hug, "You're okay, I'm so glad!"

"Heh, that's right, bro," the smaller skeleton replied awkwardly, struggling to move, "I'm fine, please don't crush me."

Asgore wasted no time finding Toriel.

"Tori...el," he voiced, "there you are, are you okay?"

"I am," Toriel replied, "but, where is everyone?"

"Hey guys!" they heard.

They were then approached by, the skeleton brothers, Alphys, and Undyne.

"Oh, there you all are," the motherly goat woman sighed relief, "I'm so relieved."

She pulled the lot into a tight hug, Asgore awkwardly joining from the side.

Then, Monster kid ran through the crowd.

"He saved us!" the armless Monster child announced, "Frisk save us! Our hero!"

"Frisk!?" Toriel gasped, "Yes, where is he?"

"I-I'm sure he's around," Asgore said, "he can't be too far away."

The group looked around.

"Look," Papyrus suddenly said, pointing toward the hilltop, "up there!"

Everyone looked where he was pointing and at the top of the hill, Frisk appeared, and with that, the bunch rushed to meet him.

* * *

As they made it to the top of the hill, Frisk and Asriel saw everyone reuniting.

"Thank God," Frisk said, "it looks like everyone's okay."

"That's good." Asriel stated docilely.

"FRIIIIIIISK!" they suddenly heard.

It was then they noticed Toriel, Asgore, and the rest of the family running up the hill, which made a nervous Asriel duck behind Frisk, who clutched his hand protectively.

"It'll be okay," Frisk mumbled to the goat boy, "I promise."

"Oh, Frisk," Toriel sighed, breathless from the run up the hill, "thank goodness you're o...kay..."

All went silent when they noticed that the human child was not alone.

Frisk looked back at his tense companion, whose head was buried in his shoulder blades.

"Hey, don't be scared," Frisk told him, "it's over now, so you don't have to hide."

He put his arm around the anxious Asriel and urged him forward, his appearance leaving Asgore and Toriel at a loss for words.

"So...Toriel," Frisk voiced casually, "you remember when we were spending all that time in the lab and I said I couldn't tell you what we were doing because it was a surprise...well...surprise!"

The parental Monster pair looked on silently, Toriel pointing at the goat child in awe, while Asgore ran his hands through his golden hair in disbelief.

"Psst, hey," Undyne quietly asked Alphys, "isn't that..."

Alphys nodded in response.

Asriel looked up at his parents, happy, yet nervous, then, he looked at the ground.

"Mom...Dad..." he whimpered solemnly, "I...I'm...s-"

He was cut off when his parents buried him in a tight embrace.

"Ah, uh," Asriel responded contently, "oh, I missed you both."

"And we missed you." Asgore said quietly.

While the three enjoyed their tearful reunion, Frisk received a group hug from the rest of his Monster family.

"Hey guys," the boy said gladly, "glad to have you back."

"We knew you wouldn't let us down." Undyne replied, rubbing his head playfully.

Frisk then remembered that he was wearing Sans' jacket, he quickly slipped it off and handed it back to the short skeleton.

"Here's your jacket back, Sans." he said.

"Thanks, kid." Sans replied, putting the jacket on.

Soon, the Monsters began to disperse, looking to make their way back to their homes.

"Finally," Undyne sighed, "we can actually go home."

Frisk looked back and saw Toriel and Asgore still getting reacquainted with their son, it was then that Frisk felt that it was time to bring everything full circle **(did not know how to word that)**. He walked up to his parental figures and got Asriel's attention.

"Hey," he said, grabbing the goat boy's hand, "come here, meet the family."

Frisk led him over to the skeleton brothers, Undyne, and Alphys, with Asgore and Toriel following close behind.

"Even if you're familiar with everyone," Frisk affirmed, "they still need to meet the real you."

Asriel nodded solemnly.

The human boy felt his companion's hand tense as the other four Monsters acknowledged them.

"Guys, look," Frisk announced, bringing the goat child closer, "this is Asriel, Asriel Dreemurr."

Asriel timidly waved to the group.

"H-Howdy." he said meekly.

Everyone got closer to get a better look at him, with Undyne and Papyrus having to kneel down.

"So, you're Asgore and Toriel's kid?" Undyne asked.

Asriel nodded.

"And...that flower..." Undyne added, "that was _you_ all along?"

Asriel looked like he was going to cry, but, manage to retain himself, responding with a nod.

"Alphys explained everything," the fish woman voiced, "sorry you had to go through that."

"I'm sorry, too." Alphys said remorsefully.

Asriel looked at everyone, perplexed, he had expected them all to be afraid or even hostile with him, but, as he stood before them at that moment, all he received were looks of compassion. They did not seem wary or resentful of him at all, it seemed, they actually felt sorry for him.

"Wowie, living without a soul," Papyrus expressed, "unable to feel anything for anyone, why, living in such a state, sounds absolutely horrifying!"

"It was...scary...to say the least." Asriel stated.

He looked at Sans who appeared to be deep in thought.

"S-Sans..." Asriel voiced, swallowing hard, "...um...I know our history is pretty...strained...to put it lightly...but, if it's any consolation, now that Chara's...gone...a total reset is no longer possible, so...we don't have to worry about losing our happy ending anymore, it's over."

Sans looked on heedfully.

"I'm sorry...for...everything." the goat boy said quietly.

He hung his head and, as Sans looked at the repentant goat child, the short skeleton's mind was wracked with thoughts as he processed what he was seeing and hearing. For longer than he could possibly figure, that yellow flower had made his life hell, taunting him about the different timelines and fighting him at any chance he got. Now, the product of that flower's being, this long-lost little boy, who had suffered just as much, perhaps even more, than he had, was standing in front of him, sad, fearful, and guilt-ridden.

Sans closed his eyes and sighed deeply as he came to a conclusion, he despised that flower, he could not deny that, but, in the end, he could bring himself to hate or even dislike Asriel, aster all, how could he fault a child for something he had no control over?

He opened his eyes and smiled at Asriel.

"Hey, what's done is done, there's no point in brooding over ancient history," Sans expressed genially, "it's time to move on, like you just said, it's over now."

Asriel looked on gratefully, tears of joy welling in his eyes, and spontaneously threw his arms around the short skeleton, who hugged him back. Joyful and satisfied, Frisk joined the hug, followed by everyone else, who buried each other in a loving group embrace.

"See," Frisk told Asriel, patting his shoulder, "all that worrying over nothing."

"Come on, everyone," Toriel affirmed passionately, "I think it's time we finally went home."

"Yes," Asgore said, clearly emotional, "it's been...quite a day...I think we could all use some rest."

"Indeed, quite a day," Papyrus voiced, "after all, our family has just grown by one!"

"Man, too bad we gotta walk all the way home." Undyne groaned.

"Who said we had to walk?" Sans responded.

He grabbed Frisk's hand.

"I think I got enough in me to manage shortcut." he said.

Frisk grabbed Asriel's hand as everyone got close together, then, Sans activated their "shortcut".

* * *

After the family returned home, everyone was quick to head inside, save for Frisk, who asked Sans to stay behind for a moment. After assuring the rest of the family that they would be in shortly, the two were left alone.

"What's up, kiddo?" Sans wondered.

Frisk wrung his hands tensely.

"Um...I just wanted to say..." the boy voiced hesitantly, "now that everything is over, now that resets are no longer possible...I hope that you can really be happy now."

"What are you talking about?" the short skeleton replied, "Of course I'm-"

"You don't have to pretend anymore," Frisk affirmed, "life has been hard for everyone, with everything I've seen and heard, I don't believe for a minute that anyone walked away from the underground unfazed."

Sans looked on curiously.

"My life before you guys, before the underground, wasn't easy either, being by myself," Frisk continued, "but, that was _then_ , now, things are different, things are looking up for us...so...no more forced smiles, only real ones from now on, okay?"

Several seconds of silence went by.

"Ah, kid..." Sans sighed, "nothing gets by you does it?"

Frisk shrugged.

"Well, I can't disagree with you, our lives have had their ups and downs," the short skeleton expressed, "lots of regrets, disasters, and decisions we wish we could take back, but, through it all, we survived and looked where we've ended up. Seriously, bud, ever since you came around and made all this happen, I've had plenty of reason to legitimately smile and, yes, there are some things that I...haven't quite been able to let go...but, I won't let that distract me from what we have now."

Frisk smiled in response.

"Come on, Frisk," Sans said, "we should go inside now."

The human boy nodded and began to walk up the porch steps.

"I'm glad you listened to me," the child said, "and I'm glad you feel that way."

He stopped when they reached the top of the porch.

"You should try to be happy, really happy," Frisk affirmed, "because...somebody really cares about you...and Pap."

He entered the house, which, from the sound of it, had yet to settle down, however, Sans stayed behind for a moment, stunned by what Frisk had said. The pensive skeleton looked up at the sky, closed his eyes, and sighed deeply.

"I know." he mumbled.

His thoughts were interrupted by Toriel calling his name, at which point, he finally walked through the doorway.

* * *

Now that everything had settled down, everyone in the house had finally retired to their bedrooms.

Toriel and Asgore had just finished putting Asriel and Frisk to bed, because all the beds in the house were currently occupied, the two children had to share Frisk's bed.

"This will be the arrangement for now," Toriel said, tucking the children securely into their covers, "but, I promise, we'll procure a second bed for you, Asriel, as soon as possible."

"In fact," Asgore affirmed, "we're gonna have to get a lot of new additions to the house, now that we've gained, that is, _regained_ , a family member."

"Yes, in due time;" Toriel sighed, "well, goodnight, my children."

"Good night, Mom." Asriel replied.

"Good night, Toriel." Frisk said.

She gave both boys a loving good-night kiss on their foreheads, then turned off the bedside lamp and headed for the door, looking back with a peaceful expression on her face, before exiting the room.

"Goodnight, boys." Asgore said, giving them good-night kisses as well.

"Good night, Dad." Asriel sighed.

"Good night, Asgore." Frisk yawned.

The goat king then left the room as well, lightly shutting the door behind him.

Now all was calm and quiet, Frisk closed his eyes, ready to drift off.

"Psst, Frisk?" Asriel suddenly whispered.

"Hmm?" Frisk responded tiredly, not opening his eyes.

"Um...do you love Mom and Dad?" The goat boy asked.

"Of course." the human boy replied, still not opening his eyes.

"Right," Asriel said, "that was a silly thing to ask."

"Why do you ask?" Frisk wondered.

"Well, it's just...you've been with them for a while now," the goat child expressed curiously, "almost a year, and they take very good care of you, they love you so much. So, I wonder...why you don't call them Mom and Dad?"

Upon hearing that, Frisk opened his eyes.

"Oh, well..." he replied, "I guess I just feel that not enough time has passed, I mean, I know they probably wouldn't mine, but, I just don't know if we're there yet. It's been quite a while since I had parents, so, I guess I still need to get used to it."

"I see, well what h-" Asriel voiced, "uh, nah, I won't get into that now, let's just enjoy our happy ending."

He rolled over, resting his head against Frisk's.

"Good night, Frisk." the goat boy yawned.

"Good night, Asriel." the human boy sighed.

With that, both children fell asleep.

Soon, just like before, Frisk was met with what seemed like yet another dream.

 **(Dream?)**

Frisk opened his eyes, he was still in bed, with Asriel snuggled up to him and everything seemed normal. However, he quickly noticed that a familiar someone was standing in the middle of the room.

"Gaster." he uttered quietly.

The skeleton man responded with a nod.

Frisk carefully pried himself from Asriel's hold, slid out of bed, and approached Gaster.

"Boy am I glad to see," the human child said admiringly, "thank you so much for helping me with Chara, if you hadn't shown up, I...I don't know what-"

"Now, now," Gaster replied, getting down to Frisk's level, "you don't have to thank me, child, I'm just glad I was able to be of use to somebody again."

Frisk looked on sympathetically.

"I could feel it when we fused, you care so much about the Monsters," he voiced, "you'd do anything for them and you miss being among them."

Gaster wrapped an arm around Frisk's shoulder.

"Yes, Frisk, what you say is true," the looming skeleton expressed placidly, "I miss life dearly; my people, my companions, my sons, I long to walk among them once more."

Frisk put his hand on the skeletal man's shoulder.

"But, that's...improbable," Gaster sighed, "I'm luck to have even made it to this point.

The human thought about, remembering Chara then looking back at the sleeping Asriel.

"Gaster, Sir," Frisk wondered, "do you...want to be saved?"

"Now, Frisk," Gaster responded, "as I said, such a thing is impro-"

"Just, answer honestly," Frisk pressed, grabbing the skeletal being's long coat in both hands, "if we found a way to help you, would you want it?"

Gaster was surprised by at the human child, who gazed up at him intently.

"Yes," he affirmed, "if, by some chance, my full restoration was possible, I would like very much to have it be so."

Frisk nodded in response, then moved in closer to the tall skeleton, huddling against his ribcage.

"I'll save you," the human child avowed, closing his eyes, "I don't know when or how, but, I will."

Gaster put his arms around the boy.

"I won't hold you to it," he said, "but, thank you."

"Frisk?" Frisk suddenly heard.

 **(End Dream?)**

Frisk opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of the dark bedroom, he turned around and saw a confused Asriel looking at him from the bed.

"Frisk, what are you doing?" the goat boy questioned groggily, "It seemed like you were talking to someone, but, nobody was there."

"I...you saw me talking to someone?" a perplexed Frisk responded.

Asriel nodded.

"Sorry, I guess my dream felt more real than I realized." the human boy said.

He quickly got back in bed and pulled the covers up to his neck; both children quickly fell back asleep, however, as he drifted off, Frisk could not help but wonder about what had just happened.

" _That was a dream_ , _wasn_ ' _t it_?" the human boy thought, " _Because_ , _if it_ wasn't, _then_..."

He glanced at Asriel and smiled.

" _Oh well_ ," he thought, " _I_ ' _ll figure it out later_."

Finally, he closed his eyes and went to sleep, at last feeling satisfied.

* * *

Oh my God, yes, finally it is finished!

I almost ended it sooner, but, I felt that I could not leave the Frisk-Gaster dream deal unresolved.

I will try to write better Undertale fics in the future, but, this one had to come first, because, Asriel.

From here on out, unless I say other wise, every Undertale fic I write will succeed this one.


End file.
